Amnesia
by Storyseeker
Summary: Demona turns into a human and loses her memory. The clan acquire a new member, but is this new member safe? Happy Birthday Demona Taina and Lily!
1. Chapter 1

_**Neither Gargoyles nor anything associated with them belongs to me, but all original characters do and may not be used without permission.**_

_**Thanks to Hardwing and Silverbolt for giving me ideas!**_

_**This fic is dedicated to Lily Maza and Demona Taina, as celebration for their birthdays on the 10th and 12th of December!**_

_**HAPPY BIRTHDAY DT AND LILY!**_

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**Nightstone Headquarters; **

**November 3rd 1997, 11:37pm:**

Demona alias Dominique Destine, CEO of Nightstone Unlimited, cursed the human's obsession with paper and reports, as she looked over the report for the Human Resources Department. What was it with humans and paper?

The sound of her intercom interrupted her thoughts, something that she was for once grateful for, and she answered it by pressing the button to connect her to her secretary Candice.

"What is it Candice?"

_Pardon the intrusion Miss Destine, but a call just came from the board of directors of Golden Cup._

Demona's ears pricked up, as she had been waiting for this call for quite some time. "Yes?"

_They said they would be willing to arrange a meeting with you._

Demona almost clapped her hands in glee. She had trying to arrange a meeting with Golden Cup since she and Thailog had first started Nightstone, but so far, they hadn't been interested in dealing with any Multi-national companies. Fortunately, Demona was nothing if not persistent.

"When?"

_At 6-0-clock tomorrow evening._

Demona felt her lungs deflate for a second before they burned up again. "WHAT, HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU ABOUT NO MEETINGS AFTER DARK!"

_I'm terribly sorry Miss Destine. I tried to convince them to hold the meeting at some other time, but they were most insistent. They said they had a busy schedule and that was the best they could do._

Demona growled inwardly in her human form. "Well call them back and tell them that I simply can't… "

_Miss Destine, they said that if you couldn't meet them tomorrow then they said to forget about meeting ever. They weren't exaggerating when they said their schedule was fully booked._

Demona almost snarled in exasperation. She needed this client, not just because Nightstone's shares had been going down recently or that it would be a major humiliation to Xanatos if she were to achieve something that he had trying to do for years. But also because she could really use the kind of weaponry they manufactured in sealing Humanity's fate, but what could she do? There was no way that she could see them at night.

Or was there?

Demona was about to tell Candice to just forget it and cancel the meeting when suddenly, she had an idea.

"Candice," she said. "Tell the directors of Golden Cup that I will meet with them tomorrow as they wish."

_Very good Miss Destine._

"Also, reschedule the rest of my appointments for the rest of today and tomorrow. I'll be going home now to prepare for the meeting."

_Yes Ma'am._

Demona turned off the intercom and gathered her things, picking up her suit jacket from around her seat and heading out the door.

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**Destine Manor; **

**Half an hour later:**

Demona's limousine screeched to a halt at almost the exact same time as Demona rushed out the car, slamming the door behind her, shouting, "That will be all for today Gregory! Meet me at the same time the day after tomorrow… And next time, DON'T BE LATE!"

Demona's limo driver Gregory sighed, but didn't bother acknowledging his mistress as she never listened to him and just turned the car around, leaving through the high metal gates.

Demona rushed through her front door and instantly ran up to her study where all her prized possessions of spell books, mystical talismans and other trinkets that she had collected over the centuries were stored.

'Time to start my real work,' Demona thought as she entered her study and grabbed the first book she saw on her top shelf.

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**Three hours later:**

Demona went through every spell, ritual and talisman that she could find in her over extended collection. She had been trying to locate some sort of spell that would disguise her as a human at night, but so far she had been unable to locate such a spell.

The only spell she knew of that could completely disguise something had been the one in the Grimoran Arcanuram. But that was obviously not an option as the book seemed to have mysteriously vanished into thin air. Neither Goliath nor Xanatos had it any more.

She did know some illusion spells but unfortunately, they were just simple disguise spells that easily dissipated after someone so much as touched them. The one in the Grimoran had been the strongest one that she knew of and she cursed herself for not grabbing that spell out of the book when she had the chance a couple of years ago when she had Brooklyn steal it for her.

Suddenly, just as she was about to give up, she found just what she was looking for.

Within one of three scrolls that she had once taken by a Mage, there was a transformation spell. As she read further, she discovered that this type of spell could temporarily change her into a human at night.

Though Demona found the idea of being turned into a complete human distasteful to say the least, she wasn't about to let Golden Cup get away from her. She needed their resources as well as their money.

Demona cursed over a dozen words in about six different languages until finally she sighed and submitted to what she had to do.

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**The Following Night:**

It had taken nearly all day for her to prepare the transformation spell, as it was a lot more complicated than she first realised.

She had had to go out and spend over three hours shopping for all the ingredients she would need for the ritual, not to mention the time it took to set everything up and study the incantation. But finally, everything was set.

Demona took a deep breath as she tried to prepare herself for the coming change. The thought to become a human willingly was hideous to her and against everything that she believed in, but she knew it was necessary.

She stepped into the circle, feeling unclean and filthy and not noticing the prying eyes that were following her every move.

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From outside Destine Manor, John Castaway alias Jon Canmore watched his prey as she moved about in her living room.

'If you can call anything that that creature touches living,' Canmore thought to himself bitterly.

Since the crippling of his brother, thanks to the demon and her monster kin, Jon had dedicated himself to the noble cause of annihilating all of their kind. However, when you're a man who's wanted for terrorism, you can't exactly show your face in public all too often.

So he had created his alter ego, John Castaway. It had taken him a lot of his resources, back from his time with his siblings, to surgically alter his face and come up with a whole new identity. But so far, things had been proceeding splendidly. Thanks to his new identity, he now had a team of followers who were all dedicated to his cause of ridding the planet of the gargoyle menace.

Usually he would send out a team of Quarrymen to hunt down gargoyles, but not for her… not the demon! His family had been hunting her down for nearly 900 years, so it was his duty as a Canmore to kill her personally.

As he observed his quarry, he noticed that her carpet had been pulled up and a circle and strange symbols were drawn onto her floor. She also seemed to be carrying a bowl of something into the drawn circle.

'Sorcery,' he realised. 'I should have known the demon would be involved with black magic.'

Wasting no further time, he launched himself into the air.

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Demona set the bowl of purified water down, removed her clothing and began to bathe.

As she bathed herself in the water, she took another quick look around to ensure that nothing was amiss, as nothing must interrupt the spell. It was delicate magic and easily disrupted. She wasn't sure of what precisely might happen if anything were to happen, but she didn't want to take the risk to find out precisely what.

She chanted words of Latin. _**"Domo quidam Gargoyle, homini dare quidam Humanus…!"**_

As she finished the last passage, the felt her skin begin to tingle and her joints slowly beginning to stiff like they did whenever she went through her daily transformations, only these were like in slow motion.

Demona prepared herself for the change, it had said that the change would be quick and painless, but Demona knew better than to trust the written words of a Mage who probably hadn't even tested this spell out on himself.

Suddenly, a loud crash drew her attention away from the creepy sensations that were occurring on her skin. She spun around and found her archenemy The Hunter standing before her.

"Demon," the gargoyle slayer hissed.

"NO," Demona snarled, knowing that she couldn't leave the circle until the spell was complete because to do so otherwise would be dangerous in a spell like this.

The Hunter roared and charged toward her.

"NO," Demona repeated. "DON'T DO THAT YOU STUPID FOOL! YOU'LL… "

She never got to finish what she was going to say, as The Hunter slammed into her, inside the circle and then all at once, there was an almighty explosion that happened right before her eyes.

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**Few Minutes Later:**

_He didn't know how long he had been lying there, as he groaned and struggled to sit up. Every part of him was hurting, but he forced himself to rise._

_He stared around himself, looking for any sign of life but saw nothing. Was he alone?_

_Before he had any time to complement this question, he heard the sounds of sirens. Feeling panicky, he forced himself up all the way to his feet and fled out the window._

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Officer Morgan screeched the car to a halt and shouted into his radio, "Send for an ambulance right now!"

He had been in the middle of running his patrol when he and his partner had heard the explosion come from one of the private estates nearby. They soon noticed the fire coming from one of the upstairs rooms and called for assistance.

He then raced up the stone steps to the front door and tried ramming it, but the door felt as though it was made of reinforced concrete.

"Hang on," Morgan's partner Jamie O'Brian said and fished out of his pocket a small skeleton key. He fit the key into the lock and after a few moments of fiddling around with it, the door finally opened.

Morgan rushed inside and ran upstairs to where the fire was. Once he was there, he opened the door from where the smoke was bellowing out. The fire raged on either side of him, causing him to fall back and cough for breath.

"Hey Morgan," Jamie shouted from the stairs as he ran up with a fire extinguisher in his hands. "Stand clear!"

Morgan moved aside as Jamie stopped in front of the door and began spraying the white foam, extinguishing the flames. It took a few minutes, but eventually all the flames were soon put out.

Meanwhile, Morgan had been looking into all the other rooms, searching for anyone that might have been in the house at the time. With every room he peeked inside, he couldn't help but marvel at the artistry of each of them.

Once Jamie was finished, Morgan hurried inside. "Anyone inside," he asked.

Before Jamie could answer, there was a low moaning sound on the floor near them followed by a violent coughing.

"Shit," Morgan swore and hurried over to where the voice was coming from. He touched a blackened shape and turned it over to reveal a beautiful young redheaded woman, her hair singed and her skin slightly burnt.

"Good God," Morgan said and then turned to his partner. "Go and find out what the devil's taking that damn ambulance so long to get here!"

Jamie ran out the room and down the stairs, leaving Morgan to care for the injured woman.

Morgan tried to make her as comfortable as possible, but there was something odd about this fire victim. If he didn't know any better, he could almost swear that her wounds were healing right in front of his eyes.

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A few minutes later, the ambulance finally arrived and the crew made their way upstairs to Destine's room.

"Geez," one of the ambulance crew said. "Who would have thought we'd get called out to help Dominique Destine of all people? I mean thee Dominique Destine! She's got to be the most powerful and richest woman in all of Manhattan."

"Eddie, get over it. If we don't help her then all that wealth isn't going to help her survive."

Eddie hurried up the stairs and gasped a little at the size of the mansion, the expensive works of art and ornaments. The hallway itself must have cost her a fortune to decorate.

"Bout time you're here," an angry voice said and Eddie looked in and saw a middle-aged African-American cop glaring at them.

"What happened?"

The cop glared at him even further. "Let's see," he mused, "the fire, her burnt clothes, what could have happened? Maybe… AN EXPLOSION YOU IDIOT!"

"Alright, Alright… "Eddie moaned. "Geez, take a pill why don't ya?"

Eddie knelt and began examining the young woman, but paused after a few seconds.

"Now what?"

Eddie frowned and stared at the cop. "I thought you said this patient here was in need of immediate medical attention?"

Morgan stared at him in disbelief. "The burns aren't enough?"

"Well yeah, they would, but… "Eddie indicated the woman. "There aren't any burns?"

Morgan gasped and reached down to examine the woman himself, but sure enough, there wasn't a single burn mark on her entire skin. Her hair wasn't even singed no more and even looked as though it had just been washed.

"But that's… "Morgan thought he was going mad. "But that's impos… "

"Uuuuummmmm… "A low moan attracted the attention of everyone and for a while, Morgan forgot about the miracle and tended to the young CEO who was just waking up.

"Ma'am," he said, concerned. "Ma'am, are you alright? Can you hear me?"

The woman opened her eyes, blinked them a few times before looking around the room.

"My name is Officer Morgan," Morgan introduced himself. "You've been in an explosion. Do you remember anything?"

The woman frowned and looked around a bit more before whispering, "Who am I?"

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**Two days later, 10:07am; **

**Manhattan City General Hospital:**

"Well," Doctor Goldblum said, "aside from the Amnesia, I can't find anything physically wrong with her. In fact, she seems to be in the most perfect health, considering the fact that she's just been in an explosion as you claim."

"She was," Morgan said through his teeth. He could tell this doctor was having a hard time trying to believe his story. If he hadn't had Jamie to back him up then he suspected the doctor would have just called him bluff.

"Maybe she wasn't in the explosion itself," the doctor suggested. "She could have been in another room when it occurred and went into the room afterwards?"

"Now why would she do that?"

Doctor Goldblum shrugged, "Maybe to see if there was anyone else in the room?"

"No," Morgan shook his head, "she lives alone. We checked. Woman doesn't even have a pet canary."

Goldblum frowned. "Well then maybe she went in to save something like a family heirloom or something?"

Morgan shrugged, "Possibly, but even so… it doesn't really matter, as she can't very well tell us anything, at least not until her memory returns. Is there anything at all that you can do for her?"

Goldblum sighed. "No, I'm afraid not," he said. "The hospital has shrinks and other doctors more experienced in this field of work that may be able to help her by offering her counselling and such. But basically, her memory will only return on its own accord."

"If she hasn't received any injuries then why does she even have amnesia in the first place?"

Goldblum removed his glasses and cleaned them. "From what little I know about Psychology, the reason why Miss… Destine did you say? The reason why she doesn't remember anything of her life is because maybe, just maybe… she doesn't want to remember."

"Doesn't?" Morgan looked blankly at the doctor.

"Yes, it's a common occurrence that when someone, who has gone through a particularly emotional and traumatic experience, they find comfort in blocking the pain by forgetting all about it. It's a form of seizure when the mind retreats into itself, blocking out the harsh memories."

"So how do we get them to come back?"

"As I said," Goldblum sighed, "this is not my field of expertise so I really can't say, but to the best of my knowledge, there is no way to… get her memories back, as you say. All we can do is coax the memories out, a few at a time so as not to traumatise the patient."

Morgan blinked at the doctor. "So what you're saying is… We just sit and wait?"

"Sadly yes I'm afraid," Goldblum replied. "There's not really a lot we can do when the mind is concerned."

"Terrific," Morgan grumbled.

"Well if you excuse me," Goldblum said as he nodded his farewell to the police officers and left to see to his other patients.

"Anything the forensics can tell us?" Jamie said hopefully.

"Doubtful," Morgan said. "They all went through that woman's home like a fine tooth-comb and couldn't find zilch. They found no sign of a bomb or anything that could have caused the explosion."

He neglected to mention all the weird stuff that they had found in Miss Destine's house, all the books on magic, witchcraft, Satanism, and quite a few other creepy things like a man's skull. He had had that checked out immediately, but apparently it was some kind of Voodoo thing that she had purchased a few months ago while on a trip to Jamaica. He personally found the whole thing about magic and spirits… etc, just a load of poppycock, but he believed everyone was entitled to their own opinion, beliefs and privacy, so he ensured that none of it was leaked out to the media.

A load of reporters had all driven like crazy to the Destine mansion and had screeched to a halt just as they were coming out with her. Morgan had made sure that none of them would be allowed entry into the Destine house.

He didn't want to admit it, but this case had had him stumped. Normally, it would be Elisa Maza or Matt Bluestone dealing with this, but they were out of town dealing with a possible drugs shipment that Tony Dracon's men were said to be involved in. All the other detectives were out on call so he had been given the rare opportunity to handle this case. He was sorry to say that so far, his first case wasn't going so well. So far, he had an explosion with no bomb or any traces of any dynamite or whatever, a victim who was obviously in the room at the time but with no injuries whatsoever.

"So what do we do now," Jamie said.

Morgan sighed. "I guess we wait and see if Forensics can find anything after all and if not, then I guess it's all up to Miss Destine to help us, assuming of course that she ever recovers her memory."

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The woman moaned as she rubbed her forehead. The doctor may have said there was nothing physically wrong with her, but try telling her headache that!

She frowned as she tried to remember… anything, but nothing came to her mind.

She didn't even remember being in the explosion that those policemen had been babbling on about. They said that it had been at her home, but she couldn't even remember what that looked like.

Something did come to her mind whenever she thought of home though, a castle. She frowned at how stupid that sounded, for whoever heard of anyone in this day and age living in a castle.

Then again, she had heard some of the doctors and nurses talking about her. Apparently, she was some sort of rich executive for a big company. She wondered if it was true. That would explain all the gold jewellery that had been on her when she came to. She had woken up on the floor of wherever she had been and found a large thick golden tiara on her forehead and some kind of bracelet on her left upper arm.

'Weird taste in jewellery I must have,' she thought, as the tiara and bracelet looked like something out of the dark ages. She couldn't imagine herself wearing anything like this except for a costume ball.

'Oh maybe that's what they are,' she suddenly realised. 'I mean, they look pretty authentic, but a lot of stuff does nowadays. Maybe I was wearing them for a fancy dress ball of something?'

She did have some memories, but they were more like scenes that she was looking at, like pictures in a book, she couldn't actually remember any of the things happening in them ever happen to her. One was of two children, one teenaged boy and a young girl just coming into her teens. She could see them in her mind, laughing and playing with one another and she could also see them fighting together against something, but she couldn't see what.

She frowned, as she tried to concentrate harder. She could also see a big man with a moustache who looked an awful lot like the teenage boy. They were altogether standing by a Christmas tree, singing and giving each other presents.

That was about all the pleasant things she could remember because the rest just didn't make sense. She could see the children all grown up and fighting against that something again, but now she had a clearer look at it and… it looked like a demon? Its eyes glared red at them and she could see the man fighting it and loosing, falling, falling…

The woman shook her head furiously, not wanting to see the rest of that scene. If this was one of her memories then she must have either watched too many horror films, or she had one of the strangest lives this world had ever seen.

She didn't think it was her family though. Like she originally thought, these images she was seeing, they didn't feel like they were of her life. It was almost as if she was looking at someone else's life through their eyes, but that made even less sense than before. Why would she be remembering someone else's life instead of her own?

The woman felt miserably unhappy and frustrated.

The doctor seemed happy that her memory of knowledge was still in tact. It seemed that only the full memories of her past were absent. He had also been a little surprised at how knowledgeable she seemed to be. She had read the paper yesterday and made several comments at how the stock market was doing and even a small remark about a Viking relic that had been discovered in Britain.

She wondered if she had been trained as an archaeologist once. That would explain how she appeared to know so much about old things.

The doctor suddenly came in and smiled at her. "Well hello Miss Destine," he said cheerfully. "Feeling any better?"

'Aside from loosing my memory and not remembering a thing about my whole life,' she thought, 'I'm fine.' But she smiled at him anyway.

"Well let's take a final look at you," Doctor Goldblum said and re-examined her. He paused, as she flinched at her touch and continued more slowly.

She didn't know why, but she absolutely hated to be touched by… everyone, it seemed?

"Well Miss Destine," the doctor continued, "we've tried getting in touch with any of your family, but from what we can gather, you don't appear to have any."

Dominique Destine was her name apparently, though it didn't sound even the slightest bit familiar to her. Another thing was that the word family always made her feel sad. She guessed that she must be an orphan then, which maybe why the thought made her sad. That still didn't explain the unusual memories she was having though.

She could accept that the people she saw might have been her family at one time, assuming they really were dead, but what about all that stuff with the demon and everything?

"And I would really not have to release you without knowing there was someone to take care of you."

Dominique, since that was her name, glared at the doctor. "I'm perfectly capable at looking after myself _doctor_!"

Doctor Goldblum blinked at her words. "Oh I'm sure you are, but even so I would much prefer it if you… "

"Am I physically all right?" She suddenly interrupted him.

"Pardon?"

"Am...I…all right?" She repeated.

"Well… Yes, aside from the amnesia, you're in perfect health. I just want… "

"What you want is no concern of mine," she snapped. "Now, unless you intend to keep me here against my will then I'll be leaving. Have some of your nurses bring me some clothes would you." She pushed away the sheets and got up to leave. Another thing that convinced she had been going out to a Masquerade party was the less than conspicuous outfit she had been wearing, talk about revealing.

"Miss," the doctor pleaded with her, "I really must advise against this. You're in no condition to make… "

"And you're in no position to tell me what to do! Now get me some clothes and a cab to take me home!"

Doctor Goldblum stood there and stuttered for a while, before sighing, "Very well. However, I insist of referring you to a colleague of mine, Dr. Henry Jameson who's a doctor in psychology here and might be able to help you with your problem."

Dominique grumbled, but nodded her head in slow resignation.

"And I trust that I have no need to tell you to contact me at once if you should experience any problems such as headaches, dizzy spell and nausea?"

Dominique nodded again.

"Very well, I'll go and speak to Dr. Jameson and arrange a schedule for you to meet with him regularly," he said and going off to see if they had any clothes in the locker room that she could wear.

Once he was gone, Dominique gasped at herself. What was she thinking? How was she able to go home when she couldn't even remember where home was?

"I'm nuts," she whispered and wondered if perhaps that was very true. She buried her face in her hands and wept.

_"Well you look pretty good for a nutty lady then."_

Dominique looked up in surprise and saw a male doctor of about 30 standing in the doorway. He was dark tanned with blonde hair and brown eyes. He was not exactly muscular, but he did have a good and lean body that gave the impression that he knew how to take care of himself.

He smiled at her and walked up to her bed. "Terribly sorry to barge in like that," he spoke in a British accent, "but I couldn't help overhearing. I have just completed my rounds you see."

Dominique could only nod. "Umm… My name is Dominique, Dominique Destine."

The doctor smiled and held out his hand. "Doctor Edward Kilby at your assistance milady," he said charmingly.

Dominique smiled back and shook his hand.

"May I ask what it was that got you so upset and think you were… less than sane?" Doctor Kilby questioned.

Dominique crossed her arms. "No, you may not."

Edward Kilby blinked a bit, but accepted her privacy. 'She must not like to talk to strangers,' he thought. "Will you be staying long?"

"No," she replied, loosing some of the harshness in her voice. "I'm going home now actually, just as soon as Doctor Goldblum or whoever brings me some clothes to wear."

"Oh, were you mugged?"

"Bombed actually."

Edward blinked at her a few times. "Whoa, I'm amazed you're still standing."

"So is everyone else apparently," Dominique muttered.

"Miss Destine," said a nurse as she came inside with a pile of clothes under her arm. "We found some garments for you to wear. Now keep in mind that they're nothing fancy, but at least they're clean and dry."

"Thank you," Dominique responded and took the clothes from her. "If you will excuse me doctor," she said, looking at Edward.

Edward bowed. "A pleasure to meet you Miss Destine, maybe we can meet up again some time?"

Dominique cocked an eye-ridge at him. "Perhaps," she finally answered though she didn't really have any intention of doing so.

Edward smiled one more time before leaving the room.

The nurse who had brought her clothes, with the nametag Betty Sears, grinned. "That there is young Doctor Edward Kilby, handsomest doctor in the hospital. He recently emigrated here from England, doesn't know a lot of people, but he's easy to get along with… "

"I neither know nor care who he is or where he's from," Dominique interrupted her, "I just want to get dressed and leave this place!"

The nurse gasped a little, not used to being spoken to in such a way, but nodded and pulled the blinds back to give her some privacy to change.

Dominique didn't know why she had snapped at the nurse like that, but at the moment she didn't care. There was just something about her being around all these people, she couldn't stand it.

The clothes she had been given were a simple green sweatshirt, blue jeans and some white sneakers

She hastily dressed herself and stepped out from behind the blinds. "Where are the police officers who brought me in here?"

Betty Sears pointed out the room, "They were in the waiting room, last I heard, talking to Doctor Goldblum."

Dominique didn't bother to say thank you or goodbye and just left.

Betty Sears grumbled and muttered, "Bitch," under her breath.

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Morgan was about to call it quits and leave when the last person he expected to see came striding down the hallway towards him.

She stopped in front of him and abruptly asked, "Are you the officer who brought me in tonight?"

Morgan blinked a couple of times. "Umm, yes that's right."

"Good, then you can take me home."

"Are you sure that's all right? I mean, shouldn't you stay here for at least a couple of days?"

She glared at him and snapped, "I don't need doctors or nurses telling me what I should do, so I'll be damned if I'll take them from a police officer as well!"

Morgan actually stepped back a bit at her outburst. 'Girl's definitely got some spunk in her,' he thought. 'Yup, Elisa _definitely_ should have handled this one.'

"Sorry ma'am, but if you're feeling any better then… By any chance, do you remember anything of what just happened tonight?"

Dominique Destine frowned and after a few moments, she finally sighed and said, "No, I don't recall anything before I woke up and found you guys staring down at me."

Morgan sighed also, knowing that without a statement from her this case was more or less closed.

"I see. Well, thank you anyway Miss Destine. Is there anything else we can do for you?"

"You can tell me what I do and where my place is for starters."

Morgan's eyes widened. "What… you do?"

"Yeah, what's my job? Where do I work, that sort of thing."

"Oh," Morgan understood. "Well, I know you're a CEO for some big company called Nightstone. It's not far from here actually, and you live in a private mansion called Destine Manor."

"Good, would you mind taking me there," it was more like a command than it was a request, but Morgan chose to ignore it and escort the young lady home.

"Sure ma'am, though I warn you that the forensic boys have just finished going through your place looking for evidence. They're not exactly the tidiest of people."

Dominique shrugged. She couldn't even remember her home looked like so she didn't care if it was messy.

"If you would just mind waiting a few moments for my partner to get back," Morgan asked her politely. "He's just gone for some coffee."

Dominique moaned a bit, but stayed standing where she was, impatiently tapping her foot until the other officer finally arrived with a cup of coffee and a jelly doughnut in his hand.

'So what they say about cops is true then,' she thought, looking amusedly at the sweet. "May we go now?"

"Yes ma'am," Morgan quickly explained the situation to Jamie who nodded and smiled pleasantly at her. Dominique barely gave him a glance and just followed them out of the hospital to their waiting car.

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**Destine Manor:**

Dominique didn't mind driving in the backseat of a police car, considering that she didn't have any other choice since she had no money for a cab. She just found the obnoxious voices of Morgan and Jamie O'Brian so damn annoying. They constantly chatted about how they hoped she would be feeling well soon and answer their questions.

Dominique still didn't know why she was so uneasy around other people. Maybe she had had a bad experience as a child that her body subconsciously remembered? Either way, she didn't like to be around anyone it appeared. So she kept her distance.

The only one she hadn't had a bad experience with was that doctor Kilby. He seemed rather nice, but even with him, she still felt an odd feeling of revolution whenever she was near him or anyone.

"There you go ma'am," Morgan said as he stopped the car and got out, "Home sweet home."

Dominique gaped a little at the huge building. Well, it was no wonder she kept having funny dreams about living in a castle, this place was big enough to be considered a castle.

"Umm, thank you," she said and got up out of the car. "Thank you for the ride and I assume you'll want me to stay in touch for when and if I should my memories ever return."

"Yes ma'am," Morgan coolly responded.

"Then I bid you goodnight," Dominique said finally and walked up the steps to the front door.

"Err ma'am," Morgan called her.

"What?" Dominique was frustrated and wanted them to leave.

"I think you'll be needing this," he said as he fished a key out of his pocket, "the key to the front door."

"Oh," she said, blushing slightly, "thank you." she snatched them out of his hand, strode back up to the door and entered the mansion, slamming the door behind her.

"Geez," Jamie said, "what crawled up her knickers?"

Morgan shrugged. "Well she has lost her memory Jamie; you can't blame her for being a little cranky."

Jamie huffed. "Cranky yes, but that girl was downright bitchy!"

Morgan rolled his eyes.

"Nice tits though."

Morgan snorted. "Come on, let's go."

**To Be Continued…**


	2. Chapter 2

_**Neither Gargoyles nor anything associated with them belongs to me, but all original characters do and may not be used without permission.**_

_**Thanks to Hardwing and Silverbolt for giving me ideas!**_

_**This fic is dedicated to Lily Maza and Demona Taina, as celebration for their birthdays on the 10th and 12th of December!**_

_**HAPPY BIRTHDAY DT AND LILY!**_

0000000000

**Destine Manor: **

Dominique looked around all the room as she entered the hall of what apparently was her home.

The first thing she noticed was that it was huge. The building was massive and she, or rather her alternate, had apparently spared no money in its decoration. There were dozens of Ming vases, porcelain ornaments and fine china everywhere. The paintings that hung on the wall were all fine arts from what seemed like some of the best artists during the last few hundred years.

'I hope the decorator is doing well,' she thought. 'After decorating a place like this, he or she must be living in Buckingham Palace by now.'

Strange though, as she walked through the halls and different rooms of the ground floor, most of it looked familiar, but… Nothing felt like home to her. She didn't see any photographs of her or any family whatsoever.

'Do I have any family?'

Dominique had been told that they could find no relatives, so she must assume that she was an orphan or something. Dominique however couldn't bring herself to believe that. She didn't know why, but she had the strongest feeling that she did have some family somewhere and it wasn't just because of those strange memories she had of those people because she felt for sure those weren't her family, she just couldn't remember who or where.

She also had the same strong feeling that this wasn't her home. Yes, the mansion did seem awfully familiar to her, so she was sure she'd lived in it, but… It just didn't like her home.

Dominique sighed. 'What am I going to do? I can't even remember my own place. I'm all alone in a mansion that you can't remember and I'm the CEO of a big company that I can't even recall the name of.'

Dominique suddenly remembered the company that Officer Morgan had mentioned. What was it...? Nightingale, Night Services... No wait, Nightstone! That was it.

She wondered if her… business, had been coping well without her. She hoped so, because she doubted that she was going to be of much use to them if she couldn't even remember where the stupid place was.

"Maybe that's what I should do," she said out-loud. "Things are obviously not doing my memory so well here, so maybe my workplace will help job things a bit."

With her mind made up, she went over to the table in the hallway where there was a telephone to go and call a cab. Once she was there, she noticed some address books that were piled next to the phone. She took a few minutes to look inside the books to see if there were any names that she recognised, but most of them appeared to be work related contacts.

She frowned a bit at the other contacts; one was the name of what sounded like an herbal shop and another for some Magic Store, the kind that dealt with the occult and not the fake magic kind. There were a few others too, another for an herbal store and some bookstores that dealt with spirits, psychics and other loo-ha.

Dominique blinked at the stores. 'What the hell kind of woman was she?'

Suddenly, Dominique came across a name that she briefly recognised… Gregory.

Dominique frowned more and more as she tried to recall where she had heard that name, but again her memory was a complete blank.

She decided to just call and ask. If anything then she should be able to tell them something about herself.

Dialling the phone number, she held the phone to her ear and waited for an answer.

The phone was soon answered, "Hello."

"Hello," Dominique replied. "My name is Dominique Destine and I… "

"Miss Destine," The voice suddenly said. "Oh, I'm glad that you're all right. Everyone at Nightstone has been worried for you."

Dominique cocked her head. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't know you. I have amnesia."

There was a slight pause and then Gregory answered, "Oh, I'm terribly sorry Miss Destine, but since this is your home number then I assume that… "

"Yes, I appreciate your apology and concern," Dominique interrupted. "Forgive me for asking, but… who exactly are you? Remember that I do have amnesia so please be thorough."

"Yes ma'am. My name is Gregory and I am your personal driver."

Dominique couldn't help but grin a little and thought, 'My personal driver? Damn, and to think I was about to call a cab." '

"Ah good then," she said. "Please meet me at my house as soon as you can. The doctors believe that if I familiarise myself with more familiar scenes from my life than my memory has a better chance at recovering."

"Yes ma'am," Gregory said obediently. "I'll be there at once."

"Good," she said and hung up.

She looked down on herself and wondered if she should change? After all, she was a CEO, so shouldn't she at least look the part? Then again, it wasn't like she was going there to work, she was just going to see if anything looked familiar so there was no need for her to wear a suit.

Having decided to not bother changing, she sat and waited for her driver to arrive.

She had barely even sat down when she heard the sound of a car pulling up in the driveway. 'Wow, now that's what I call fast service.'

She got back up and ran to the front door, opening it and stared. A stretch limousine was parked at the foot of the stone doorsteps where a man was only just getting out, dressed in a Shofa uniform, opening the back door of the limo.

"Miss Destine," he greeted her politely as he opened the door.

Dominique opened and shut her mouth a few times before slowly shutting the front door behind her and stepping down the steps and slowly making her way to the limo.

"Hi," she breathed, still in shock.

Gregory raised an eyebrow at her. He had never expected to ever hear Miss Destine speak so out of breath and he definitely had never expected to see her wearing casual clothing. He didn't say anything though and just went into the driver's seat and asked her, "Where to Miss Destine?"

Dominique, having quickly recovered, answered abruptly, "To my company of course."

Gregory kept on his stoic face and simply nodded at her, but underneath his rigid posture, he smiled. 'Even without her memory, she's still as proud and sterile as ever.'

0000000000

**Nightstone Unlimited:**

Gregory drove up before the main entrance to Nightstone Unlimited and stopped the car.

Dominique swallowed, a bit nervous, and braced herself. It was a large building. 'Like everything else I seem to own,' she thought.

Gregory got out and opened the passenger's door for her. She stepped out and marvelled for a while at the building and all the people coming in and out of it.

"Wow," was all she could seem to say.

"Will there be anything else Ma'am?" Gregory asked her.

"Huh," Dominique answered. "Oh no, everything will be fine now. You can go home. I'll take a cab back when I want to go home."

Gregory nodded. "Very good ma'am," he said and tipped his hat as a sign of farewell and got into his car and left.

Dominique took a deep breath and went inside the…_her_ building.

0000000000

Candice struggled a bit as she answered the phone, finished the report for Miss Destine's absence and signing for a delivery. Since Dominique Destine had been absent, the whole company was in uproar. She never realised how everything seemed to depend upon her. It was no wonder that she was always cranky if she had to put up with this kind of stuff all day.

So far, she had had to reschedule several appointments and meetings, not to mention deal with the angry directors from Golden Cup who called, demanding why Miss Destine hadn't shown for their meeting. She had to contact the board of directors to inform them of their employer's situation and organise everyone's new jobs for the time being.

"Hello," she said into the phone.

_Candice, _a voice said from the phone. It was Becky, the receptionist downstairs.

"Hey Becks, What's up, I'm real busy now?"

_Just to warn you that…_

Candice didn't hear the rest of what she said because at that moment, Dominique walked in wearing a plain green sweatshirt that looked years out of date, blue jeans and sneakers?

Candice could only stare in wonder at her employer, as she had never known her to come in anything other than a business suit or at the very least an expensive dress that would probably cost an entire month of Candice's salary.

"Miss… Destine," Candice began.

The woman looked at her curiously. "Hello," she simply said, offering a small but tight smile, but that was enough to make Candice blink. The clothes were one thing, but Miss Destine... smiling? Had the whole world turned upside down?

"Err, are you feeling alright Miss?"

Dominique shook her head. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid I don't know you." At the confused look that the lady was giving her, she added, "The doctors say that I have amnesia. I don't remember anything of… Well, my whole life to be frank."

Candice knew about the amnesia as the board had telephoned the hospital to ask about her condition and they in turn had informed everybody else. She put the phone down and said, "Oh, I'm terribly sorry Miss Destine. Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Yes," Dominique answered, as she looked around the room. "The doctor said that it would be a good idea for me to familiarise myself with all the usual surroundings of my life so that it can jog my memory. Since I own a company as big as this then I need you to tell me everything about it and myself here."

Candice nodded. "Well, okay. My name is Candice and I'm your secretary, your office is just through here." She led Dominique into a large spacious office.

'Guess I don't believe in doing anything small,' Dominique thought.

The office was large with all the usual things and items you'd expect to see in an office from the traditional desk and chair, lamps and pens… etc. The paintings on the walls were not as expensive arts like the ones she had seen at her home, but they were still of refine taste.

One thing caught her attention and that was the large stack of paper that was on her desk. "What's all this?" Candice looked a little nervous, which confused her.

"I'm sorry Miss Destine, but since you… took ill, the company has had a lot on its plate to deal with all your business transactions and such. I was just storing them here until I could take them up for the board of directors to see to."

Dominique nodded in understanding and curiously went over to look at the papers. Most of them seemed to be reports about business briefings, meetings, notes and such, all of which, Dominique apparently understood. She picked up a few of the papers and began to leaf through then.

"Err, Miss Destine," Candice said unsure. "Are you sure you want to be doing that? I mean, in your condition… "

"I'm perfectly fine," Dominique snapped. "I can do this!" She had finally found something to do and her mind was remembering something from her past, so why wasn't this annoying woman leaving her alone? "Leave me!"

Candice shivered a little under her employer's hard glare and snapping voice. She didn't know what to do since she was the CEO and everything, so she stepped out of the office and left.

She decided that she would inform the board of directors and let them decide on what to do. Picking up the phone, she dialled the first director's number. The dial tone rang for a few moments before the director's secretary finally answered it.

_Yes._

"Hello, may I speak to Mr. Lyons please?"

_I'm afraid not, Mr. Lyons and the rest of the board are in a meeting at the moment, but should be available within the next 2 hours._

Candice swore inwardly. "This really is quite important; can't you interrupt their meeting or something?"

_No, Mr. Lyons left specific instructions that the meeting was not to be disturbed for any reason whatsoever._

Candice sighed. "Very well, please tell him that Candice Turner, Miss Destine's secretary, called and ask him to call her back straight away, thank you." She hung up and sighed again. 'I knew I should have stayed in bed this morning,' she thought.

A couple of hours past and Miss. Destine had not left her office in all that time. Candice wondered if she should have gone in and asked her if she wanted some lunch, but she decided against it. She didn't want to get on her bad side, even if she did have amnesia.

The phone rang again and Candice answered it, "Hello?"

_Hello, this is Mr. Lyons. I understand you were trying to get hold of me a couple of hours ago?_

"Yes sir," Candice tensed up. "I wanted to inform that Miss. Destine was here."

_She's WHAT?_

Candice cringed. "She arrived a couple of hours ago and hasn't left her office since."

_I'll be right down! _The man on the other end of the phone line slammed his phone down and Candice prayed that she would still have by the end of the day.

A few minutes later, he lived up to his promise and came barging through the doors. "Where is she?"

Candice pointed to Destine's office door.

"I can't believe you'd be so stupid as to let a woman with amnesia go through all the reports and business briefings," Mr. Lyons said angrily. "She's in no condition to do anything like that and if she's made one mistake on them then I promise you, I will… "

"WHO'S SHOUTING?" An angry, hate-filled voice came through the office door right before they slammed open, revealing a rage-full looking Miss Destine glaring at the man in question.

Whatever feelings of anger or confidence that the man may have been feeling previously, soon evaporated when he saw his CEO giving him that look he knew all too well… the look of disgust and rage that made him fear her.

"What is going on?" she said, more calmly but still with a hiss.

Lyons gulped and said, "Forgive me Miss Destine, but the board and I were worried that you should be back so soon, right after your… accident and what with your… "

"I may have amnesia sir," she replied, "but I'm not stupid and I'm certainly not blind enough to see what a klutz you are." She waved the papers she had been holding under his nose. "You didn't send someone in my place to deal with this Golden Cup meeting, which may have cost you millions and you haven't even explained to them personally about why I was late or even attempted to arrange another appointment with them!"

Lyons gulped again and stuttered, "We… we didn't even know you had a meeting with them… We tried… "

"You attempt failed then," Dominique snapped and turned to Candice. "Candice, get in touch with Golden Cup again, inform them of the situation about why I was absent for our meeting. Maybe if they learn the full details and the situation then they might decide to give me a second chance."

"Yes ma'am," Candice said obediently and mentally thought, 'She's baaaack.'

"And you," Dominique turned back to Lyons, "Get back upstairs and get me the Baxter account files now!"

"Yes ma'am," Lyons responded quickly and left quickly for his office.

Dominique marched right back into her office and began mulling over the files once more. She had started out a little slow, finding it difficult to understand all the business quotas and mumbo jumbo that they all said, but after a while it seemed to come quickly to her like the language she spoke.

She smiled briefly, glad that she had found something that she could do besides sitting at ho… at that big house with nothing to do, If only she didn't feel so damn isolated.

Dominique frowned. Nothing about what she had learned about herself sounded right, not even her name. The name Dominique just didn't feel right to her, it didn't sound at all familiar, but she just put it off to her amnesia. The doctor had said that due to the extent of her amnesia, nothing might feel right to her at first. She just needed to spend a little time getting used to everything around her.

Dominique mused. What the doctor had said about her getting used to everything had certainly worked here at work. She had been confused at the papers that had been on the… _her _desk, but after spending a little time on it, she had got it under her thumb.

'Then why do I feel so damn lonely,' she thought miserably and walked up to the window, looking out at the people on the streets all going about their business.

She felt like she was missing so much, so lost and so cheated like everything had been stolen from her.

'Not that there doesn't seem to be much missing from my life,' she thought. 'No family, no close friends, not even a damn dog or cat. I must be some kind of a loner or something.'

Shaking her head furiously, she decided not to think about it anymore and went back to typing.

0000000000

**Two Days Previously:**

Angela swooped and curved in the air, bored. It had been a relatively slow night with only two muggings and nothing else. Everyone else was either out on patrol or at the castle, which was where she could be now really as she had finished her patrol, but she hadn't felt like going home just yet.

The main reason being was that she didn't want to go home to all the constant buffing that the trio always seemed to do whenever she was around. Despite what had happened during the turf war between Dracon and Brode, the trio and never truly stopped in trying to win her affections. Oh, they had matured a great deal since then, but they still had a long way to go.

They didn't do anything really wrong like putting their friends at risk, like they had nearly done with Elisa when she had asked them to help her with capturing Brode. They just couldn't resist bragging about how they had taken on the Pack, Sevarius or even just a robbery that they had just foiled. Every-time she spoke with them she noticed the way they kept flexing their muscles and standing in a way that she guessed brought out their good sides.

She sighed. She knew she would have to choose between them eventually, but she just couldn't think of either of them as a life-mate for her. They were just so young and they were still rather immature.

Brooklyn went mad every-time he heard her mother's name, who Angela still believed could be redeemed so he was not a good first choice. That topic would be forever between them if she did.

Lexington was kind of sweet, but… whenever she looked at him, she felt like she was trying to come onto a little brother. Lexington wasn't a kid, as she knew that he had been hatched from the same rookery as Brooklyn and Broadway, but still… Every time she looked at him, her first thoughts were 'go to your room.' Besides, neither of them shared the same interests and hobbies. He was obsessed with science and technology whereas she preferred to just live in the age that she had been brought up in, as much as what was possible. So he was out too.

Then there was Broadway. Granted, he wasn't much of a catch if you were to judge by appearances considering his more than large gut, but Angela was more mature than that. What he lacked in physical appearance, he made up for with the size of his heart. He was kind, surprising gentle considering his size and the fact that he could tear apart a car with his bare claws. He was sweet, loveable and a terrific chef.

She just wished she could know for sure whether he loved her more than he loved his food.

A high growl attracted her attention, followed by the squeals and screams of a few humans. Angela dove straight down to where the sounds were emitting from and gasped.

A tall male gargoyle with azure blue skin, rippling muscles and sunny blonde hair roared as a man with a knife attacked him from behind.

Angela lost all thoughts of surprise and dove down at the knife welding man, striking him across the face with her tail, rendering him unconscious.

The male gargoyle spun around in surprise at the stranger who had come to help him. He blinked a few times at her, but mostly stayed focused on the attacking humans.

There were only three other human, all with chains or lead pipes. They had started out menacingly enough, but after just one session with both gargoyles, they were already turning tail and fleeing.

The male snarled and looked ready to run after them, but Angela just put her arm on his saying, "Leave them be. They're not worth the hassle."

The gargoyle stared at her hand for a moment and Angela retracted hers slowly. "Who are you?" she asked.

The male cocked his head and looked quizzically at her. "I'm Damon," he said and then added, "Who are you?"

Angela bowed slightly, as the princess had taught her and her siblings long ago. "I am Angela. Where may I ask did you come from?"

The gargoyle called Damon cocked his head again. "From here of course."

"Here?"

Damon nodded.

"But my clan and I have never seen any others of our kind here in Manhattan," Angela said surprised, but at the same time excited at the prospect of another clan living nearby. "Where is your clan?"

Damon looked confused for a second. "I have no… clan," he said blankly. "There's just me and I've always been here in this city."

Angela felt a little disappointed at there not being another clan, but her curiosity over this stranger paled it in comparison.

"You have?" she said surprised. "Why have you only just shown yourself then? My clan and I have been here in Manhattan for 2 years and we've never seen even a hint that there were others of our kind out here."

Damon shrugged. "I have seen no one else of our kind in all the time I've been here."

Angela frowned, as this sounded mighty suspicious. True, Manhattan was a big place and so it was possible that they just hadn't run into each other's path until now, but… There was something about this guy that made her feel insecure.

Still, he was a gargoyle and was at this moment alone and from the looks of it; he was injured as she saw blood dripping down his back.

"Oh my," she said concerned. "That man with the knife got you!" She instantly went to attend to his wound.

Damon growled under his breath. "I was hungry! All I wanted was a little food so I went to those men who had some with them. If they didn't want to share then all they had to do was say so, but no sooner had I approached them, they attacked me without cause!"

Angela nodded sadly. "It's the same with all of us, all my clan have had more than one occasion when humans prefer to attack rather than listen."

The gargoyle clenched his fists in fury. "I did nothing to them," he hissed.

"I know," she whispered soothingly, "but don't think about it now. Now, just let me attend to that wound of yours."

Damon hesitated at first, but eventually nodded his head and allowed Angela to examine him. He hissed as she gently touched the wound, but nevertheless her touch still sent waves of sharp pain through him.

"Do you think you might be able to glide?" she asked.

Damon tested his wings. They were all right, it was just his shoulder that hurt, but it would still cause trouble for him when gliding.

"Maybe," he said, "if you help me?"

"Of course," she smiled and helped him over to a wall, which they then began to scale up.

0000000000

**Eyrie Building:**

Hudson sighed a little in boredom, as he flicked through the multiple channels on his remote, Bronx snoozing by his feet.

Suddenly, the door opened and Hudson turned his one good eye, expecting to see Angela as she was long overdue from her patrol, but saw instead an azure blue gargoyle.

He sprang up from his seat, thinking at first that it must be Demona, but stopped when he got a good look at the stranger and saw that it was a male. Hudson only slightly relaxed, but kept his hand on his sword ready for trouble.

"Who be you then?" he demanded.

"It's okay Hudson," Angela came around Damon with the first aid kit in hand, "he's with me."

Hudson still looked curiously at the male gargoyle, but took his hand off his sword. "Well then," he began, "would ye be a dear and introduce us then lass?"

"Oh yes," Angela smiled. "Hudson, this is… "She didn't get to finish her introduction though as Bronx, who had woken up, took one look at the new gargoyle and snarled at him, looking as though he was getting ready to pounce on him.

"Bronx," Hudson slapped him on the flank and gave him a hard stern look, which made Bronx whimper and lie back down, but without taking his eyes off the stranger.

"I apologise," Angela said. "Bronx isn't usually his hostile. I think it must be because you're new here." Angela believed this to be true, but a part of her was unsure, as she recalled the other times when Bronx had met other gargoyles and he had introduced himself to them in a warm and slobbering manner.

The stranger nodded, but glared back at the gargbeast.

"Hudson, this is Damon," Angela finished. "He comes from right here in Manhattan."

Hudson cocked his eye-ridge in surprise. "Manhattan eh? That's odd lad, as we've never seen head nor tail of you or any other gargoyle for that matter."

Damon shrugged. "This is where I've been living, this is where I remember being."

Angela couldn't ignore the fact that he was being awfully vague about himself, but she just couldn't come right out and accuse him of lying now could she?

"Och," Hudson said and clapped Damon on the shoulder. "It be no bother any hows. Come, the rest of the clan will be returning soon and I know they'll want to meet you."

Angela smiled as she finished dressing his injury and led him out the TV room and back towards the courtyard.

Hudson was correct in assuming that the clan would be interested in Damon. No sooner had they landed and noticed the strange new gargoyle in their midst, they immediately began bombarding him with queries about who he was, where he was from, were there any females in his clan?

Needless to say, they were rather disappointed when Damon told them that he had no clan of his own, but they were equally surprised as Angela and Hudson when he claimed to have lived in Manhattan in all the time since before they had been there.

Goliath was glad to have met a new gargoyle, but he couldn't shake the feeling that he somehow knew this gargoyle from somewhere before. His colouring was azure blue, much like Demona's but a deeper shade, not as well built as he but with a lean stature. He also had a crop of sunny blonde hair, like his rookery sister Coldfire's had been before her death.

His eyes were ordinary dark ones like most gargoyles were, but the shape of them, the way they stared at him reminded him of someone… He just couldn't remember whom.

Bronx remained by Hudson's feet, his plain white eyes never leaving Damon for even one second. That alone was enough to make Goliath nervous.

"So Damon," Broadway cheerfully spoke. "When's the last time you ate?"

Damon frowned. "I can't remember," he said.

"Whoa, has it been that long?" Broadway asked in horror.

Damon shrugged. "Could be," he answered, but stopped when Broadway seized his arm and began dragging him in the direction of the kitchen.

"Well let's go and get you plumped up then!" Broadway said joyfully.

"Yeah," Brooklyn laughed. "Broadway will feed you till you're as big as he is by the end of the week."

Damon glanced nervously at the enormous gargoyle's belly. "I… don't think I'll want to go that far, thank you."

The trio laughed as they guided him to the kitchen with Angela following from behind.

Hudson walked up to his former second and pupil. "Alright lad," Hudson enquired, "What be the matter?"

"What do you mean?" Goliath asked, confused.

Hudson sighed. "I've known ye long enough to know that look yuir wearing on your face lad. I should know because in a way I was the one who taught ye that look. Damon… Yuir not too sure about him are ya?"

Goliath sighed. "You know me only too well old friend. Granted, Manhattan is a big place so it is highly possible that his path and ours have just seemingly not crossed till now, but… "

"But," Hudson urged him, "ye believe that there's somethin else that he's hiding don't ya?"

Goliath nodded. "He just seems so vague about his background and everything. He says that he comes from Manhattan so I have no reason to disbelief him. I mean, why would he lie about where he's from?"

"Good point," Hudson nodded.

"But whenever we ask him about his clan… He avoids the subject by just saying that his clan are long gone and he won't answer anymore."

Hudson frowned and scratched his head. "Maybe the memory of his clan is a painful one? He could ave lost his clan the same way we lost ours and prefers to not talk about it."

Goliath looked up as he considered this. "Yes, I suppose that could be true, but even so, I dislike not knowing the full facts about a person, even if that person is a fellow gargoyle."

"Are ye gonna be asking the lad to stay with us?" Hudson asked.

Goliath shrugged. "What else can we do? He's all on his own, so it would be too cruel to just turn our backs on him, especially with Demona out there."

"Aye," Hudson agreed. "If she found out about the lad then no doubt she would go after him and try to turn him against the human race too."

Goliath nodded. "Agreed, though I doubt she would have had far to go to convince him of that. Considering the vile treatment he received from some humans for just asking them for a snack, I wouldn't be surprised if he were to take Demona up on her offer."

A haunted look came over Hudson's face briefly, as he remembered how she had tricked Brooklyn into luring Goliath into a trap when they had first awakened. "The lad apparently hasn't had much luck with humans. Perhaps meeting Elisa will change his mind?"

"Maybe, but Elisa is still away hunting those accursed drug dealers in Chicago. She said she would not likely be back until some time within the next month or two."

Hudson regretfully nodded. He knew how hurt Goliath had been when Elisa had told him that she was going away for a while. He had understood why she had to do it, as it was her job, but that still didn't soothe the ache in his heart any lesser.

"She'll be back soon lad," Hudson tried to comfort him. "You'll see lad, the time will just fly by."

Goliath slowly nodded, but he obviously did not believe it. Elisa had only been gone 2 days and already he was missing her like he would miss the very air he breathed.

"What about Xanatos?" Hudson suddenly enquired. "What's the word on him?"

Goliath shrugged. "He and his family are still in the Caribbean where he's starting that new business that his company is financing. He thought it would be best if he stayed out of town for a while considering how Manhattan all suspects that he is harbouring us. He believes the longer he stays away then the less likely the public and Quarrymen will think we're here because if he was harbouring us then why did he leave us for so long?"

Hudson nodded in understanding. "A good plan… an Lexington knows how most of the wee gadgets an gizmos in this ere place work in case of an emergency."

Goliath agreed and he had to admit that although Xanatos had sworn he was a reformed man, he couldn't help but feel relieved at his departure. Some things were just too new and strange for him to accept; and others too good to be true.

0000000000

**Nightstone Unlimited; **

**Present:**

Dominique Destine sighed as she finished going through the final report for the day.

Phew! Who would have thought that one company would need so many papers and reports filled out?

Dominique moaned and stretched her arms, popping a few muscles and crackling some bones as she did so. She looked at the clock and gasped at the time, which read 7:00pm!

"Boy did I work late," she said out-loud and wondered why her secretary hadn't told her the time or even said goodbye?

"Probably thinks she doesn't need to do anything once her work hours are done," she grumbled, as she got up from her desk and picked up her jacket, heading out the door.

She briefly considered calling up that Gregory fellow to come pick her up again, but she decided not to bother. It wasn't quite dark yet and she felt like a walk.

She past by Candice's desk, her desk all-neat and tidy and her computer with a plastic sheet over it. The offices were all empty; everyone must have already gone home.

Dominique took the elevator down and walked past the security guard on night duty.

"Goodnight ma'am," the security guard smiled pleasantly. Since he was on the night watch then he had obviously never seen Miss Destine and just assumed that she was simply another of the employees.

Dominique gave him a tight smile, but replied politely, "Goodnight."

'What is with me?' she thought miserably. 'Why am I so goddamned nervous and rigid around people? My God I could lessons to Ebenezer Scrooge.'

She walked down the street, passing the people looking in shop windows, walking their dogs and a couple of joggers.

The day at the office had been good for her, as it had kept her busy and kept her mind off her problems. It had also made her realise that she was good at something at last, like running her business… and intimidating people apparently.

However the day was now over and she was left with nothing to do, but think about her problems.

She sighed miserably. She didn't really want to go back to that awful house with so many rooms and not a single other living thing, besides her, in them.

So focused was she on her thoughts that she didn't notice where she was going, until it was too late.

[BUMP]

"Oof!" Dominique rubbed her nose. "Why can't you watch where you're going you… oh. "

Dominique blinked a few times when she saw who she had run into. "Doctor Kilby?"

Edward Kilby blinked and smiled. "Miss Destine, a pleasure to see you again and please, since we're not in the hospital anymore, call me Ed."

Dominique blushed slightly and tried to smile pleasantly, something that was a trying experience for her. "It is… nice to see you again Mr… Ed."

Ed laughed. "Oh yeah, I've heard that one too many times."

Dominique looked at him, blankly and Ed stopped when he saw she wasn't laughing.

"You know," he said. "Mr. Ed, as in the talking horse, the TV show?"

Dominique just continued staring blankly at him.

"Whoa," he said. "I guess you must have really lost your memory good then didn't you?"

Dominique shrugged, not really understanding what he was talking about.

"Well how are you coping?" he enquired. "Anything at home that's jogged your memory?"

Dominique didn't know what it was, or why she did it, but the moment he said those words, she felt fresh tears starting to drip down her face and before long, she found herself crying.

Ed lost his smile and instantly looked concerned. "Miss Destine, what… Okay, that's a stupid question as I know what's wrong with you."

"You… you do?"

Ed cocked his head. "Well I'm only guessing, but I imagine that nothing at home made any sense and it didn't jog your memory in the slightest?"

Dominique's lower lip trembled. "Not a single thing! It was like I was walking into somebody else's home and going through their things than my own. I thought that once I got home, wherever that was, I'd get my memory back but so far… I'm no where closer to learning who I am than I was at the hospital."

Ed guided Dominique to a nearby bench and sat her down, listening intently.

"The only good thing that happened today was when I went to work. I found that even with my amnesia, I'm still good at my job and it gave me something to do!"

Ed sighed. "Look, I'm sure that what you're going through is frustrating and I know you must be… "

"You don't know anything!" Dominique snapped at him. "You don't know what it's like to have no memory of who you are, who your parents were, to be all alone where no one cares… "

"Oh no hold on," Ed interrupted, making her glare at him. "You're right about me not knowing what it's like and I'm sorry for that. But there are people who care about people like you and I know that for a fact."

"Yeah, like who?" she hissed.

"Well, me for starters," Ed blushed.

Dominique snorted. "You don't even know who I am. You're just saying that because you're a doctor and it's your job."

"Quite possibly," Ed nodded. "But I didn't get into this line of work just because of the money you know, I actually became a doctor because I wanted to help people and save lives and to do that kind of work, you have to actually care about people."

Dominique frowned, as she listened to his words, not knowing what to say. They sat like that in an awkward silence for about a couple of minutes before Ed finally sighed and got up.

"Well, I'd… "Suddenly he stopped and a thoughtful expression came over his face. "Say, would you care to join me tonight? I'm on my way to a meeting and there's a lot of people who I'm sure you'd like."

Dominique thinned her eyes curiously at him. "A meeting? What, you in some kind of club or something?"

Ed shrugged. "Something like that," he said. "Since you have amnesia then I suppose you have no memory of Gargoyles either?"

"Gargoyles," she blinked. That name sounded more familiar to her than anything she had heard today. She knew what Gargoyles were, stone drainpipes on cathedrals and churches, but to her they meant something more… She just couldn't remember what?

"Yeah, I know it's pretty weird and I'm still having a hard time accepting it myself, but believe or not, they DO exist."

"They?" Dominique cocked her head to the side.

"Gargoyles," Ed repeated. "Gargoyles are apparently real. People said they've seen them coming to life and flying about the city… "

"Gliding," Dominique suddenly blurted out.

"Pardon?"

"Ummm, nothing," Dominique shook her head slightly. Where had that come from?

"So err… You wanna come? I promise that it's not some kind of religion thing where you have to get up and sing chants or anything."

Dominique actually found herself smiling at this weird, but funny little man. "Good," she said, "Because I can't sing."

Ed grinned and offered her his arm to escort. Dominique however politely refused and said she would rather walk by herself. Ed accepted that, showing no hurt feelings and walked alongside her.

"So what exactly is this club you're into then?" Dominique asked as they walked.

Ed shrugged. "Basically, it's just one of a few organisations that were set up when those gargs first appeared. The police don't really believe they're real and just think they're someone's idea of a joke, but we've heard from more than enough people that they're real enough. We just keep an eye out for them and try to capture them if we can to find out just who or what the hell they are. One guy who started it ran the whole thing. He was a bit of a crackpot, but he had the money and he knew how to reach people. Only problem is that he went on vacation a couple of days ago, no one had seen head or tail of him since."

"Oh, so who's in charge until he shows?"

"His second in command, guy by the name of Ben Lewis, nice guy though he's a bit strict when it comes to battle drills."

"Battle drills?"

"Oh yeah, well you never know what kind of things these gargs might be, right? I mean, would you go into a cave unprepared without any of the right equipment. These things, if what people are saying about them is true, could tear your arm right off and rip you to shreds."

Dominique blanched and shivered slightly. "And… just what is the name of this organisation then that you're into?"

"The Quarrymen," he answered casually. "Stupid name I know, but hey I didn't choose it, and what's in a name, right?"

Dominique didn't answer, as she was just gazing off into space. The name 'Quarrymen,' sent shivers down her spine, but it also made her feel very, very angry about something.

'But what?' she thought. 'What does it make me so mad about?'

To Be Continued… 


	3. Chapter 3

_**Neither Gargoyles nor anything associated with them belongs to me, but all original characters do and may not be used without permission.**_

_**Thanks to Hardwing and Silverbolt for giving me ideas!**_

_**This fic is dedicated to Lily Maza and Demona Taina, as celebration for their birthdays on the 10th and 12th of December!**_

_**HAPPY BIRTHDAY DT AND LILY!**_

0000000000

**Quarrymen Headquarters:**

Dominique stared at all the different faces among the crowd. Some were some rather gruff looking men whom she wouldn't have been surprised if they had served time. Most of them though looked like nothing more than simple ordinary people, men, and women and even a few children.

Two children ran past her, giggling as they played a game of Tag. Dominique smiled inwardly.

She still felt that strange feeling of revulsion whenever she came close to people, but it was nowhere near as bad as it had been when she had first awoken. It still confused the hell out of her though.

"We've got a couple of more minutes before the meeting starts," Ed said to her. "You want me to get you something to drink, a coffee or tea?"

Dominique nodded her head. "Yes, a coffee would be fine."

"How do you take it?"

Dominique opened her mouth, but shut it again. How did she take her coffee?

"I can't remember," she said sheepishly.

Ed grinned. "Don't worry, I'll bring you some milk and sugar with it then you can decide." He walked off in the direction of the refreshment table.

Dominique sighed and stood by herself for a moment before she felt someone tapping on her shoulder. She turned around, looking into a pair of wide blue eyes fixed to a cheery face.

"Hello," a woman of around 30, bit bulky around the arms and with a bubbly personality, said. "You're new here aren't you?"

Dominique took a defensive step backwards. "Err yes, I am. My name is Dominique Destine."

The woman's eyes got even wider when she heard Dominique speak her name. "THEE Dominique Destine?" She squealed and Dominique looked around nervously to see if anyone were listening. To her dismay, quite a few people who had heard this woman squeal her name was now staring at her quite intensively.

"Oh God I'm sorry," the woman apologetically. "I didn't mean to startle you, but… It's just that… I never imagined that… I mean, you're thee Dominique Destine. You're like, the most powerful woman in all of New York."

Dominique blushed. She knew that her company, being a multi-national one, had sources, but she didn't know that this made her one of the most powerful women in the city. "Well, I don't know about tha… "

She never got to finish what she was about to say though, as the woman was already talking again.

"I mean, this is like sooo totally awesome! I never dreamed that I would meet anyone famous here at these meetings. I only wish that my… "

Dominique's patience was wearing thin and she was just about to yell at this annoying woman to go stalk someone else when…

"Hey Nancy," Ed's voice thankfully sounded off to the right of them, making Nancy, as this must obviously be her name, to be silent. "How's it going? I didn't see you at the last meeting."

Nancy grinned as she saw Ed make his way to them. "Ed, you Brit, haven't seen you in a week. No, my kids were both sick with the flu so I couldn't make it."

"Aww, you should've called me. I could have come take a look at them."

"Oh no," Nancy waved him off. "It's just a case of the flu, nothing major. They'll be fine in not time, I've caught the blasted thing more times than I can count."

Ed laughed. "So I take it you've met the famous Miss Destine?"

"Ho, no kidding. I was so surprised to see her here that I almost shit my panties."

Dominique cringed at her language. Good God, where was this woman from?

Suddenly Nancy stopped and looked between them. "Say! Are you two here together, as in a date?"

Dominique turned red, but more from anger than embarrassment. If this woman started shouting that she and Ed were here as a couple then she'd break all her teeth.

"No," Ed assured her, making Dominique sigh in relief. "We just met up and I invited her here to see how she'd like it."

"Ohhh," Nancy said slyly, though it was clear that she didn't quite believe it. "Well in that case, if you'll excuse me then I'm gonna go catch up on the latest gossip."

With that, much to Dominique's relief and sanity, she turned and left.

"That there's Nancy Peters," Ed explained to her. "Noisiest woman you could ever dread of meeting. She's a little repulsive with that tongue of hers, but she's a good sport and a cheer to be around at times."

"I can imagine," Dominique silently said.

Suddenly, a short digital bell rang through the room and everyone began making their way to the seats in front.

"The meeting?" she asked.

"Yup," Ed said as he placed her coffee in her hands. "I've saved us a couple of seats near the front." He led her to the front row where they sat down and Dominique sipped her coffee.

The meeting went on as Dominique more or less expected it to be. A man came up who Ed introduced her to as Ben Lewis, the new guy in charge until the real leader showed up. He began talking about the Gargoyles and the menace and danger that they were to the public.

Dominique found the Gargoyles intriguing and would have wanted to know more about them, but apparently all that this guy or anyone had to offer on them was that they were dangerous and needed to be stopped.

Dominique frowned. The name 'Gargoyles' rang so many bells in her head that she wondered if perhaps she had a history with them? But she immediately scoffed at the idea, as how could any human be involved with creatures such as these?

As she listened to more and more of the Quarrymen's lecture about keeping the peace, purifying the city and saving their children, she began to experience a feeling of deja vu. The words he spoke… annihilating them, ridding the world of their dangerous presence… Those words seem to come to her as quickly as when she had been in the office today. It was like they were a part of her, or part of something from her past.

With Ben's closing speech, many of the people stood up from their chairs cheering him on.

"Knows how to give it to the crowd doesn't he" Ed chuckled. "You had enough or would you… "

"Ed," Dominique suddenly grasped his arm fiercely and looked at him with a keen stern look in her eyes. "Who do I have to speak to for membership?"

Ed blinked at her. "Membership? You mean for here?"

Dominique snorted a little at his stupidity. "No, for the Russian Circus… Of course for here, where else?"

Ed looked a little unsure. "Well, err… I mean, if that's what you really want then yeah sure, go for it. But do you think it's wise, what with your amnesia and everything?"

"I'm perfectly fine," Dominique reassured him. "Something about what your friend said there about Gargoyles and the menace they represent made perfect sense to me. I want to be a part of it."

"Well, I can talk to Ben if you'd like, but are… "

"I am sure!" Dominique said definitely.

Ed shrugged. "Fine, it's your choice. I'll go talk with him now." He walked over to where Ben Lewis and began chatting with him.

Dominique felt like she was finally getting somewhere other than her work at her company. She wasn't exaggerating when she said Ben's words made sense to her. They just felt so… familiar.

_A poison that must be perched from this planet!_

Dominique blinked as she heard those words in her own head. Again, they felt familiar but she couldn't remember where from. She figured that they must be about the Gargoyles.

'Yes,' she thought. 'They are a menace, a poison that is lethal to all innocent people and must be stopped at all costs.'

An old problem had once more resurfaced in Manhattan, but this problem was even greater than before.

0000000000

**Eyrie Building; **

**One Month Later:**

In the week following his coming, Damon had acquitted himself into the clan well, making friends with the trio quickly and had even caught the eye of Angela.

The clan had guessed right when they had questioned him more about his clan and he finally relented, admitting that his clan were all gone, that they had been smashed while they slept by men in strange clothes.

They first through that it had been the Quarrymen who had done this horrific deed, but Damon assured them that this had happened a long time ago. He said that the men who had attacked his clan had been dressed in unusual clothes, wearing helmets and carrying strange axes or clubs. He had escaped because he hadn't been with his clan on the day they were shattered and saw the enemy after nightfall.

His story sounded so close to home that it almost hurt the clan to hear it.

Damon was becoming quite popular, as he seemed to hold a great deal of knowledge about machinery, along with motorcycles and racecars, as well as other pieces of science and technology. He also had a small interest in learning to cook and had even started taking lessons from Broadway in the kitchen.

He had also gone with them on patrol, helping to stop dozens of crimes.

The clan had all been impressed with the way he stopped the criminals. The way he fought was obviously not done out of pure instinct, the skill in which he attacked could only have been by years of training that suggested he must have at least grown up with a clan and this clan was well versed in the ways of warrior skills.

Unfortunately, there had been more than one occasion where one or more of the clan had had to step in and prevent Damon from taking his duties one step too far. On almost every patrol he had been on, he had nearly beaten the poor ruffians into submission and worse. One time he had nearly crushed a mere purse-snatcher's head in by grabbing him round the neck and preparing to punch the living daylights out of him.

Needless to say the clan were all a bit nervous around him, but they all still firmly believed that he could be helped and that he had just had one too many bad experiences with humans. They felt that once Elisa and Matt returned from their assignments then Damon would finally meet some kind humans, his attitude toward them would settle down.

The one thing that made Goliath a little nervous was the way that Bronx always seemed to be quietly growling at Damon behind his back. Goliath knew that Bronx was a lot smarter than most beasts and he had always trusted his judgement. However, he and Hudson had also trusted him when he had seemingly trusted Coldstone at the time when Xanatos created Coldsteel and Coldfire and it turned out that it was in fact Puck in disguise.

Goliath didn't want to completely ignore Bronx's instincts and warnings, but at the same time he couldn't just distrust a fellow gargoyle just because the dog didn't like him. Before the massacre, Bronx had been equally fierce to other gargoyles just because they wouldn't feed him or they kept pulling his tail and such. At other times it was simply because he just didn't like them, and Damon was still a stranger if nothing else, so maybe Bronx just needed time to get used to him.

Still…

0000000000

"… and you add a sprinkle of parsley, a pinch of salt, stir it well and voila! You have Bolognese."

Damon smiled. "Thank you Broadway for showing me how to make spaghetti. I'm sure this will come in useful, especially for my taste buds."

Broadway beamed proudly, as Lexington sat near the breakfast bar fiddling on the toaster that he had been trying to fix and ended up making worse.

"Hey Damon," Lexington called over to him. "Mind giving me a talon with this thing? You're so good at machinery."

Brooklyn, at that moment, poked his head through the kitchen doorway. "Hey Dam, "he said good-naturedly. "You doing anything? There's a motorcycle show on now and there are some mean hogs on it."

"Okay, okay!" Damon said laughing. "One at a time, please. Lex, let me see your device and Brook, I'll be with you in a minute."

Brooklyn waved his hand at him and went back to the TV room, leaving Damon to fiddle about with the toaster.

Damon's face screwed up in concentration, as he focused on the inside of the machine and gently inserted the screwdriver, twiddling about within for a few moments until he finally finished. "I think that's done," he said. "Try it now."

Lexington plugged the toaster back in, inserted some bread in and slid the lever down. A few moments past and so far, nothing had blown up and the bread was slowly warming up and turning into toast.

"Phew," Lexington grinned. "Thanks Damon. I've been working on this damn thing for ages, but could never get the stupid thing to work without the toast coming out burnt to charcoal or the toaster blowing up."

Damon chuckled. "Yeah well, don't thank me yet as he still has to finish. I'm gonna go check out that show now with Brook. Let me know if it doesn't work or if there's anything else I can do for you."

"Thanks," Lex replied and watched him go.

0000000000

Hudson sat in his recliner chair reading his newspaper, as it was Brooklyn's turn to watch the TV now. Bronx snoozed by his feet, but perked up immediately when he heard the familiar footsteps of the approaching new Gargoyle.

Bronx's eyes instantly flared white and growled at the incoming intruder, but Damon didn't even acknowledge him. He had long since grown tired of Bronx's constant wordless threats and chose simply to ignore them.

"Gimme a break," he silently whispered to the mutt who snorted and rolled back to sleep when it became clear that no one was registering him.

Brook greeted him with a high five and began pointing all the outrageous motorcycles that he had already spotted. Damon, with his surprising high knowledge of machinery and mechanics, seemed to know nearly every one of them that Brooklyn mentioned, something that delighted Brooklyn.

Half an hour later, Angela walked in and smiled at the two, but they barely noticed her as they were too engrossed in the show.

"Yeah, hi Angie."

"Nice night isn't it."

Angela rolled her eyes at the TV obsessed duo. "What is it with guys and their bikes?" she asked Hudson, amused.

Hudson smirked. "Tis the same with all of us lass, for some men it's their bikes, for others it's our swords. When I was a hatchling, I would spend hours in the battle rooms, staring at all the fascinating swords and weapons they had there."

Angela rolled her eyes again. 'Men,' she thought,' if it's not bikes and sports then its swords and heavy battle gear… I wonder if there's a man out there anywhere whose interests isn't into something that can cause fatal injuries.'

She knelt down and tickled Bronx behind the ear, causing him to pant in delight and bang the floor with his hind leg.

She smiled down at him though mentally, her thoughts were another matter. She was more happy here with her new clan than she had ever been and yet, yet there was something missing and she didn't have to be a genius to know what.

When she had left Avalon, she never dreamed that she would end up being reunited with her natural parents, let alone finding out that Goliath, the hero they had all grown up hearing stories about, was her father. It had been the happiest moment of her life, the only thing that would have made it perfect was if her mother had been there, but she had assumed that her mother had died in the massacre with everyone else.

She had tried getting Goliath to talk about her real mother, but he had remained stubborn to Gargoyle tradition and insisted that the whole clan were her parents and she didn't need to know who they all were.

Fate however had a cruel sense of humour it seemed, as she was soon to find out. The night at Notre dame Cathedral had revealed to her who her real mother was, only to find out that it was none other than the infamous Demona who had betrayed the clan and attacked her and her siblings.

Angela had been shocked, but not altogether completely surprised. She had seen the resemblance between her and the exile, but had assumed that it was nothing but mere coincidence. She should have paid more heed to her instincts.

Even now, she couldn't stop thinking about her mother and all that had transpired since she had first met her. By all accounts, she should hate her mother for all the evil she had done to both her and the clan, but… No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't bring herself to do so.

'Am I really so weak in not being able to hate my own mother?' she thought.

Angela looked out the window, oblivious to the noise from the telly, Brooklyn and Damon exclaiming excitedly over yet another motorcycle and Bronx whining about not getting his ear scratched anymore.

'Where are you now, mother?' she thought miserably, 'and what are you planning next?'

A couple of hours later, Lexington came in looking nervous. "Hey... err, Damon, would you like to come take another look at… umm, the toaster again? It's playing up again."

Damon shrugged. "Sure, damn thing still giving you bother huh?"

Lexington laughed, "Like you wouldn't believe."

Damon gave Brooklyn a high-five and followed Lex out. "Catch ya later Angie!"

Angela roared in frustration and Damon ran out before she decided to give chase.

"So what's up?" Damon asked, as he cracked his knuckles.

Lexington rubbed his head. "Well, there's nothing… actually wrong with the toaster. It's working perfectly."

Damon blinked. "So why'd you come and get me then?"

Lexington swallowed. "Well, there was something… that I needed to ask you, if you wouldn't mind?"

Damon nodded. "Sure."

Lexington fidgeted about a bit on his feet and crouched down on all fours. "Well… you see it's like this… I was… I was wondering if… maybe… that is, if you…. Ummm… "

"Lex!" Damon half laughed and half sighed in exasperation. "Will you just tell me what the hell is it? Come on, it can't nearly be as bad as all that stuttering that you're doing."

Lexington blushed. "Well, I… I… I wondered if perhaps you'd look at some more machines with me!" He blushed again.

Damon cocked an eye-ridge. "That's it?"

Lexington swallowed again. "Well, err… yeah, more or less."

Damon didn't look as if he believed him for one moment. "Oookaaaay. Sure, if you'd like."

Damon walked in front of Lexington and headed towards Lexington's own private workshop.

Lexington held up his hand and looked as though he was about to stop Damon, but then he slowly brought his hand down and sighed miserably. "Maybe some other time," he muttered and followed him.

0000000000

**Nightstone Unlimited; **

**12:03pm, Same Day:**

Dominique signed the contract that finalised the merge with Golden Cup facilities, feeling a little smug but managed to hide her emotions well.

She had been correct in assuming that the directors of Golden Cup would feel pity for a CEO who was suffering from amnesia, especially when there was a possibility that it might make them look bad. After all, what kind of men would not allow an audience with a woman who was unable to meet their scheduled meeting because she had been in an explosion? It was very bad for business.

Dominique wondered why she, or more accurately her other self, had wanted this merge with Golden Cup so bad? She had spoken to Candice and she said that she had been after this deal for ages.

Dominique had looked over the profits for Nightstone and things were not nearly as bad as her other self had made out to be. In fact, Nightstone's shares seemed to be going up now, so why had she been so eager to get this deal?

Dominique shrugged, as it didn't matter anymore, for she had the deal. She had beaten all the other companies in achieving something that they had all attempted to do so and quite possibly earn her company about a dozen more millions in dollars.

'All in all, not a bad day if I do say so myself,' she thought smugly.

A buzz on her telecom alerted her attention. "Yes," she said sharply.

_Miss Destine, a doctor Edward Kilby is here to see you._

Dominique sighed and rolled her eyes. 'This guy just doesn't know when to quit does he?'

She sighed and replied, "Send him in."

A moment later, the door opened and Ed came strolling in, grinning widely. "Hey Dom," he said cheerfully. "Beautiful day isn't it?"

"What do you want Ed?" she replied simply.

Ed looked shocked. "What do I want? I come all the way over here to invite you to lunch and this is the thanks I get?"

"What do you want?" she repeated dryly.

"$300," Ed finally said.

Dominique groaned. "What did you do this time?" she said as she began digging into her purse.

Ed three out his hand. "Nothing, I swear! I was driving along when this stupid asshole drove right up behind me and into my bumper. I had to get a replacement and everything."

Dominique chuckled under her breath. "You really should think about taking the bus from now on Ed." She said as she handed him the money.

Dominique and Ed had become close friends in the last month. She still felt weirdly uncomfortable among people, but seeing as she couldn't find any reason as to why, she had decided to push the feeling down and try to make friends.

Ed had been the obvious first choice, as he was the only one going out of his way to be friendly. He could be a bit annoying, as he was forever getting into trouble with his car (he wasn't a very good river), which usually left her to help bail him out. The last time she had had to literally bail him out of jail because he had crashed into a lamppost because he had been flirting with an attractive young girl while driving.

But, as immature as he was, he was a good friend. He had helped her by getting her free membership to the Quarrymen and had introduced her to more and more people and had even took her out to dinner a few times.

The Quarrymen, every time that she heard that name she got two separate emotions running through her head. One was of almost complete rage and the other was silent joy because with them she felt like she was doing something worthwhile, by helping them to rid the city of those awful beasts, the Gargoyles.

Most of the friends she had made were also part of the Quarrymen. There were a few members that she preferred to keep her distance from, the street thugs for example who kept giving her and her purse the eye. The other one was Nancy Peters, a nice woman but very annoying with that loud voice and foul tongue of hers.

She still hadn't made any headway with her amnesia. The doctors had tried a number of therapies with her to attempt jogging her memory, but so far they had had no luck and her mind was still a blank. The doctors were all stumped and believed that she must have gone through something so traumatic that her entire mind just simply refused to let her remember it.

Dominique frowned. 'What could have been so awful that made me forget my whole life?' she thought.

"Hey Dom," Ed suddenly said, gladly accepting the money from her. "I was thinking maybe you could come out to dinner tonight?"

Dominique smiled and nodded, but then she thought of something better. "Actually Ed," she said. "Why don't you come and have dinner at my place tonight?"

Ed blinked. "Err, sure… I mean, if that's what you want and you're… "

"I'm perfectly comfortable with the idea," Dominique assured him. Because of her problem with dealing with people, she had invited no one into her house, not even Ed. "I think it's high time that I started inviting people into my house now, don't you?"

Ed blinked again, but slowly a wide smile cam across his face. "I should say so! I've been aching to look inside that big mansion of yours ever since you had me drop you off a month ago."

"Alright then, how does 8-0-clock tonight sound?"

"Perfect! I'll bring the wine."

Dominique smiled again, but then the sound of her telecom sounded again, making her almost growl in annoyance.

"Yes," she tried not to shout into the speaker.

_Sorry Miss Destine, _Candice's voice said. _But I thought you should know that one of your competitors is arriving home in two weeks._

Her competitor?

Dominique wondered who that could be, since she hardly knew of any of the other neighbouring companies that she might be at business war with.

"Which one?"

_David Xanatos._

Xanatos! The name sent alarms running through her head and her memories felt as though they were beginning to stir only to be roughly pushed back down again.

_Miss Destine?_

Dominique barely heard her secretary, as her mind struggled to calm down and she didn't even register Ed as he came over to her, checking her for a seizure.

"Dom," he said concerned. "Dom, are you alright? Answer me!"

Dominique blinked and slowly came out of her stupor. "Huh? Oh, Ed. Yes, I'm fine… I don't know what came over me. Err, thank you Candice." She deactivated the telecom and relaxed in her chair.

Ed examined her briefly before Dominique roughly pushed him off.

"Do you mind?" She snapped at him. "I'm not a rag-doll you know!"

"I know that!" He responded hotly. "I'm just checking to see if you're alright if you don't mind."

Dominique glared at him for a while, not saying anything before she allowed him to go with his examination.

"So what exactly happened?" he asked.

Dominique sighed. "Nothing, I just… "

"Just?"

"Well," Dominique frowned. "Well, every time when I hear a certain word… it's like my brain goes into overdrive and it feels like my head wants to start remembering something… but as soon as it starts, it stops."

Ed considered her words for a moment. "You believe your memory is starting to return?"

Dominique frowned. "I want to believe that, but like I said, whenever I start getting close then it's like my memory shuts down again and I can't remember squat!"

"Okay," Ed said calmly, "let's just calm down okay?"

Dominique growled inwardly, but clenched her fists and did as he asked.

"Have you told Marcus about this?" he suddenly asked.

Dominique blanched. Marcus, or Doctor Nathan Marcus, was the psychologist who had been assigned to work on helping to regain her memory. He was a nice enough man, but deep down the man just gave her the shivers.

"Yes," she lied, "but nothing he does seems to help."

Ed gave her a long look, but didn't say anything.

"I'll be fine," she assured him. "I'll tell Marcus about this at our session on Friday. I promise." She made a show of crossing her heart.

Ed sighed. "Fine, it's your life."

He suddenly looked at his watch and gasped. "Shoot! I was supposed to be back at the hospital five minutes ago!" He sprang up from his seat. "I'll see you later Dom." He blew her a kiss and ran out the room before she had a chance to reply.

Dominique smiled and then pressed the button on her telecom again. "Candice?"

The speaker buzzed from Candice's desk and her secretary's voice rang through. _Yes ma'am?_

"Okay," Dominique began seriously. "I want you to start telling me everything in detail about what you know about David Xanatos and don't leave anything out."

0000000000

**Destine Manor; 7:49pm:**

Dominique checked the roast to see that it didn't burn and lowered the heat under the bubbling pots containing the greens.

She didn't know for sure, whether or not, her other self had had much experience in cooking, but considering the way that she had made a mess of the kitchen the first time she tried to cook something, she didn't think so. She still couldn't get the gravy stain out of the wall.

'Thank God for cooking shows,' she thought.

She had begun taping nearly every episode of almost every cooking show that she could get on her cable TV, so as not to starve, as she didn't fancy going out to dinner every night.

She had decided on a simple roast beef dinner with greens and roast potatoes, followed by a strawberry moose dessert. So far, the meal was turning out just fine if she did say so herself, as she sniffed the meaty aroma.

She lowered the heat of the oven and took off her oven gloves for a while. It would be another few minutes before dinner was ready, so she hoped Ed wouldn't be late.

She looked out the window to check if he was coming up the driveway yet, but still there was no sign.

She shivered a little, realising that she was all alone in the house again. It drove her crazy sometimes, whenever she sat alone in this big old empty house with no one to talk to, with no photos or anything of her past. The only thing she had found were those crazy occult stuff that she found on witchcraft and sorcery.

'Looks like the old me was a bit of a nutter,' she had thought. She hadn't known what to do with all those strange books and weird amulets, relics and such, so she just put them in the garage in case she ever got her memory back and knew what to do with them.

She heard the beep of a car horn and saw Ed as he drove up to the gate and honked again to get her attention.

She quickly pressed the button, which activated the automatic gate and opened it, allowing Ed entry.

She took off her apron, something that she had had to go out and buy because she'd been unable to find out in the house. She must have had servants to do everything for her and she hadn't even found any casual clothes in her wardrobe, just business suits and that was it.

"God, can you say what a dull life or what," she muttered.

A few moments later, there was a knock on the door and for one brief moment, Dominique had an idiotic urge to brush her hair and apply some make-up.

'Stop that,' she scolded herself. 'It's only Ed for God's sake and he's only a man, nothing special.' Yet somehow, she couldn't bring herself to fully believe that.

She tossed the apron she'd been wearing onto the breakfast bar in the kitchen and hurried to the front door, where she found Ed wearing a red T-shirt, blue jeans and his usual goofy smile and holding a bottle of white wine.

"Hey gorgeous," he said cheerfully, not bending down to kiss her as he knew her better than that. "Hope I'm not too early?"

"Right on time for once," she joked. "What happened? You went without your late afternoon nap or something?"

"Ha, hilarious Dom," he shoved the bottle into her hand. "Hope white is okay?"

"That's fine," she said. "Come on in, dinner will be ready in a few minutes."

Ed whistled softly, taking in all the expensive architecture and decorative ornaments and such. "Geez, talk about your lost paradise," he breathed. "This has got to be the biggest and most high expensive house I've ever even come close to, let alone stepped in."

Dominique snorted. "Tell me about, imagine my reaction when I first came in, and I own the place."

Ed smirked. "Home sweet home, you know I could learn to like it here."

Dominique smirked back at him. "Don't press your luck. Now, are we gonna eat or what?"

Ed bowed elegantly in an exaggerated manner and fashion, proclaiming, "Lead the way my lady!"

Dominique rolled her eyes. 'Stupid human,' she thought and then wondered why she had thought that?

0000000000

**An Hour Later:**

The dinner had gone mostly well. She was actually doing surprising well as a cook, with the exception that the gravy had gone slightly thin, but other than that, Ed had seemed quite pleased with his meal.

'Maybe I should think about starting my own cooking show,' she smirked and then wondered if maybe that wasn't such a bad idea after all.

"Mmm… mmm… mmm," Ed murmured in delight as he finished his last sip of wine. "That was one hell of a good meal Domi; you sure know how to fatten a guy up."

Dominique cocked her eyebrow at his waist. "Hmmm… Seemingly I didn't have that far to go," she said, as she poked at his belly.

"Hey," he said indignantly. "Don't you be going touching my belly, not unless you're _serious_?" He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Dominique chucked a piece of leftover salad at him. "You're full of it Ed."

"Yeah, but you know that's why you love me."

Dominique rolled her eyes, 'Idiot.'

"By the way," he continued. "Ben wants to know if you've changed your mind about going public with your membership."

Dominique shifted a bit uncomfortably. Since joining the Quarrymen, Ben had been at her trying to get her to go public, telling everyone that she was backing their cause. Needless to say, if it became well known that one of the most powerful people in Manhattan was supporting the Quarrymen then it would greatly enhance their reputation.

However, Dominique felt a little nervous about going public. So far, she hadn't had to speak to any newspapers about her famous business deals with Golden Cup, which was fine, but she knew that the media would definitely be after her for an interview if it ever came out she was backing a group bent on destroying Gargoyles.

"No," she admitted. "Tell Ben I'm sorry, but I'm just not ready to go public yet. I promise though that when I am, he'll be the first to know."

Ed yawned and stretched, finishing off with a contended sigh as he patted his swollen gut and moved to get up. "Sure," he yawned again. "Well, thanks for the great meal Domi. It sure beat whatever Art and Lois have been feeding us at."

Dominique lost some of her smile, as she knew he was going. "I'm… glad you enjoyed it Ed. Maybe we should do this from now on, me being the cook instead of having to rely on someone else to do it for us?"

"Sounds like a plan," Ed agreed and got up… and staggered back down again.

Dominique instantly came to his side, worried. "Ed, are you… Mmm… "She gasped, as Ed suddenly kissed her. It wasn't a rough kiss and he didn't grab her or anything, but something sure set her off.

"MMMM!" She growled into him, not in a nice way, slapped his face and punched him under the chin. "GET YOUR FILTHY HANDS OFF OF ME HUMAN!" she screamed, as he sank to the floor moaning pitifully.

She stood there for a moment breathing heavily in shock. What had she just done?

"Ed," she began uncertainly. "I'm sorry; I don't know what came over me I… "

Ed held up a hand, as he slowly rose back to his feet, clutching his chin. "Boy, remind me never to get into an arm wrestle with you."

Dominique went to help him up, but he waved her off.

"Dominique," he used her full name, something he'd never done. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I had no right to take advantage of your person like that."

'But I wanted you to,' she thought and felt like dropping her mouth open in shock. Did she really like him THAT way?

"You didn't do anything wrong," she said. "I shouldn't have overreacted like that. All you did was give me a playful little kiss, nothing so wrong about that."

In truth, she couldn't for the life of her think why she had reacted that way. The moment he touched her, she felt an instant loathing and disgust that she could not explain, but she'd be damned if she'd let it control her.

"I should have known it was way too soon. I promise it won't happen again," Ed had never looked so remorseful before and Dominique was surprised to feel it hurting her so. "I'll go now," he said.

At first, Dominique was almost content to just let him go. Let him leave, leave her alone with her thoughts. As she watched him take one step further to the front door, one by one, she felt her heart getting hollow. She felt so alone.

He reached the front door and without looking back, he opened the door.

"Ed," he heard Dominique's voice right behind him. He turned around and gasped, as Dominique embraced him fully, kissing him.

For a moment he just stood there with his hands up in the air and Dominique with her arms wrapped around him, kissing him. A second moment past and finally he hugged her back, kissing her passionately.

Dominique enjoyed the sweet taste of his mouth; she also felt another feeling of deja-vu. The warmth of his embrace, his kiss and the feeling of being loved and protected felt new, odd and yet somehow familiar to her at the same time, like a forgotten dream.

They continued like that for more than five minutes, each of them folding into the other's arms, safe and content.

Dominique was confused, as for some strange reason she was almost expecting Ed to start calling her his 'angel'?

0000000000

In the weeks that followed, Dominique and Ed continued their relationship. Dominique still felt that gnawing feeling of loathing every time she came close to someone, but she didn't let it run her life anymore. She was happy with a man whom she loved and who loved her.

All in all, her life would almost be called perfect, if only she could remember who she, where she came from and what her past was?

Dominique sighed. Her life would almost be perfect aside from these things. Well, that and if she didn't have to keep visiting that creepy Doctor Marcus, the guy still gave her the chills every time he came close to her, and the way he spoke reminded her of a Dracula movie.

She still had to meet a number of her company's employees, since Nightstone was a large company then obviously there were a lot of people to meet.

Dominique sighed again and checked the next item of her agenda.

Meanwhile, four floors down below where she was sitting in her office. One of her employees was smirking and chuckling to himself.

'So far so good,' he thought humorously, when suddenly the phone rang. He went straight over and picked the phone up from its cradle, knowing at once who it had to be, as no one else called him.

"Hello Nathan."

A scowl came at the other end of the communication. _Anton, you miserable swine! What the hell has been going on over there?_

Anton Sevarius smirked. "Why dear Nathan, you do sound out of sorts today. Tell me, whatever could be the matter?"

_Don't give me that load of crap Anton! I did as you asked, now what more do you want from me?_

Sevarius sighed. "Nothing, just for you to continue with what you're doing right now, that's all."

_I can't keep it up forever damn it! Eventually the other doctors are either gonna transfer her over to another doctor or worse, they're going to want to sit in on one of our sessions and find out why my therapy isn't working._

"Well then I suggest you find some way of working around it then," Sevarius replied coolly. "You're a well respected doctor, so you should have more than enough resources at your fingertips."

_You underestimate my reputation Anton. I'm just one of a few million shrinks, what makes you think they'll listen to me?_

"Because they have already done so, my dear cousin and who wouldn't? Why, I'm sure there isn't a doctor who wouldn't love to sit in at one of the famous lectures of Doctor Nathan Marcus, cousin to the even more famous Doctor Anton Sevarius."

A deeper scowl came again. _If anyone were to ever find out who my family were, more precisely you, then I can kiss goodbye to my career, my reputation and even my whole damn social life! Thanks to you and your unhealthy interest in genetics, you made it impossible for me to go out in public without having the locals shouting at me, calling me the cousin of 'Doctor Moreau!'_

"Oh sure," Anton acted hurt. "When you say it like that then you make it sound like a bad thing."

Nathan Marcus, Dominique Destine's psychologist, snarled into the phone. _I had to leave Chicago and change my name because of you! If I had stayed any longer then they would have probably sent a mob after me!_

"Oh cut the theatrics will you," Sevarius hissed into the phone in disgust. "And while you're at it, grow some backbone as well. I only want you to keep Miss Destine's memories buried for as long as you can."

_Fine, but why? What reason could you possibly have for wanting this woman not to remember her past?_

Sevarius smiled. "Let's just say that the woman she once was wasn't exactly a woman you could get along with. I was doing some work for her and have yet to meet my deadline, plus since her tragic accident, I've been dealing into her accounts without her company's knowledge of course and am not in the mood to be confronted by her about it yet."

Nathan snorted. _So you've gone from mad scientist to petty thief as well cousin. Just when I think you can't get any lower you…_

"We can stand here on the phone all day reminding ourselves how much we hate each other Nathan, but frankly I don't have the time and neither do you I imagine. Just continue doing as I told you, nothing more and that's all I wish."

Nathan gave a long sigh. _Fine! It shouldn't be too much trouble, as she's practically doing the whole work by herself. I don't know what kind of a life this woman has led, but whatever it is, she certainly doesn't want to remember it._

"That's fine then," Sevarius smiled. "Don't call me again unless her memories start resurfacing." With that said he replaced the phone on its cradle before his cousin could retaliate and returned to his desk.

Anton sighed, shaking his head. Nathan could be really bothersome at times, but he was still family and like all Sevarius', they looked out for one another, despite their differences. Plus, Nathan still owed him for all the times that he had helped him out by doing his studies at school, college, university and sometimes even at work. The guy was totally dependent.

He didn't know what could have happened to Miss Destine or Demona as he knew her better, but he knew she had plenty enough enemies who could have attacked her home and such, so it was no big surprise. However, he also knew about her immortality and the fantastic healing properties that came with it.

He had been getting rather worried since he had dipped his fingers into her money more than a few times and had become careless. He knew Demona would notice the sudden decrease in her accounts as soon as she checked them and had been sweating bullets, waiting for her to hunt him down.

It had been more than a relief when he learnt of her accident and would have gladly kissed the person, whomever they were, that issued the attack and caused her amnesia.

Still, the scientist in him couldn't help but be confused over her amnesia, as from what Demona had told him of her immortality; it had the power to heal her both physically and mentally. So why did she still have trouble remembering her own name?

"Well, no sense in beating around the bush," he said out loud, "and never look a gift gargoyle in the mouth, as my former employer used to say." He chuckled.

0000000000

Fox landed the Xanatos copter down on its landing pad, grinning at the delighted grins and coos coming from her son. Owen held onto him firmly, but gently, his face looking more stone than that of the gargoyles.

"Home sweet home," she sighed in relief. The Caribbean was a nice place to visit, but a little too hot for her tastes.

"LEX! LEX!" Alexander bounced up and down on Owen's knee, eager to see his favourite babysitter again.

David Xanatos chuckled. "Not now Alex, but have no fear," he assured his precious treasure. "The sun will be down in a little while, so you'll see him then."

Alex smiled, but then stopped and looked up at the tower where the gargoyles were all roosting. "Oga one," he burbled in his baby talk.

"Pardon?" Xanatos leaned forward and look to where his son was pointing at.

"I believe what he meant to say was 'other one' sir," Owen said crisply, staring at the tower.

Xanatos looked up and raised an eye-brow in mild surprise at finding not 7 gargoyles, but 8? "It would appear that the clan has grown since we left," he mused.

Owen nodded. "Shall I send for Goliath to speak with you after he has awakened Mr. Xanatos?"

"Thank you Owen," he replied. "That will be fine."

Half an hour later, the clan all roared awake from their deep sleep with Owen right behind them, waiting.

Owen rubbed some of the stone chips off of his suit. "Goliath?" he asked the clan leader.

Goliath turned around, and frowned at the major-domo. "I see that you and your master have returned," he noticed.

Owen nodded. "Indeed, but if you please, Mr. Xanatos has requested a meeting with you regarding the newest addition of your clan."

Goliath nodded, as he knew he would have had to explain to Xanatos about Damon sooner or later. "I will meet him within a few minutes."

"Very good," Owen replied and left.

"OW," a yelp of pain came from below the tower. "Damon! Cut it out!"

Goliath looked over and saw Damon had gripped Lexington in a headlock and was in the middle of giving him a noogie on the head. The others were all standing by either laughing or smirking at the sight, except for Bronx who as usual was just standing by Hudson's feet, glaring at Damon.

Goliath smiled at them before calling down to the male gargoyle in question. "Damon, may I have a word with you please?"

Damon obediently let go of Lexington who rubbed his head in fury and glared at his retreating back, along with something else, as Damon scaled the wall up the tower to Goliath.

"Yes," Damon asked, as the others all departed to make breakfast.

"I just wanted to tell you that Xanatos and his family returned today," Goliath cautioned him.

Damon eyes flared up a little, but he kept calm. "Xanatos is the human who owns this castle?"

Goliath hissed under his breath, as every time that he was reminded that Xanatos was the official owner of their ancestral home, it made his blood boil.

"Yes," he growled. "He was unaware of your existence so I'm going to have to obviously tell him about you. I would appreciate it if you would accompany me."

Damon seemed to grit his teeth together, but he nodded and followed Goliath, as he leapt from the tower and glided down to the courtyard where Owen was already waiting for them and led them to Xanatos's office.

As they reached the door to his office, Damon growled a little, his tail fidgeting.

"Do not worry Damon," Goliath assured him. "Xanatos is a friend. Although sometimes it can be hard to tell what's going on underneath that smirk of his, I do nevertheless believe that he is trying to make up for all his past misdeeds and… "

"I neither care nor want to know this David Xanatos," Damon interrupted, his eyes flaring. "From all that I've seen and heard of humans, they should be grateful for the protection that we give them and yet they repay us with contempt!"

His last remark made Goliath hesitant a little, as he had heard that sentence once long ago also. Only it had been from a female gargoyle, one whom he had trusted with his very soul, who betrayed him and his whole kind.

"They have no honour," Damon continued. "More importantly, they haven't my respect." With that said, Damon turned and left down the corridor.

Goliath complimented going after him and trying to reason with him, but the hard glint in his eye suggested to him otherwise. He doubted that Damon would ever be meeting with Xanatos soon.

Goliath sighed and went to explain to Xanatos the story of their newest clan member.

0000000000

Goliath spoke to Xanatos and went through all the details of how Angela met Damon, her bringing him back to the castle and gradually joining the clan.

Xanatos had kept pretty quiet, waiting for Goliath finish his tale and Goliath found himself wondering just what was going on in that formerly evil, but still pretty crooked mind of his.

"And you've learned nothing else about him, except from what he's told you," Xanatos asked.

Goliath sighed and stared back at him. "I know what you're thinking Xanatos, and yes you're right. But I could not just leave a fellow gargoyle out on the streets alone with no clan just because he refuses to tell me more about his deceased family."

"No, don't misinterpret me Goliath," Xanatos raised his hand. "I understand your reasons all too well and if the situation had been reversed then I would have probably done the same thing."

'In what, an alternate universe?' Goliath thought and instantly felt ashamed.

"However," Xanatos continued. "I do feel that you should still keep a close eye on this… Damon. There's something about his tale that doesn't ring true."

"Why would he lie to us?"

Xanatos shrugged. "Who knows? Could he be anyway linked to Demona?"

Goliath frowned. "I thought of that, he certainly seems to share some of her ideals about humanity, but he still continues to go out on patrol with us and has even risked his life on more than one occasion to save a human."

Xanatos stroked his beard. "Could it be an act? Trying to get you to lower your guard by making you think he's genuinely protecting them."

Goliath shook his head. "He nearly got shot one night, almost tore his wing right off. If it was an act then it was the most realistic one I'd ever seen before in my life."

Xanatos frowned too, an unusual trait for him. "Could he be a clone then?"

"I do not think so. He doesn't act anything like a usual clone and his colouring looks genuine. He just seems so… distant all the time."

"There's another thing too," Xanatos leaned forward. "Have you noticed that the story you've told me about the loss of his clan is almost completely identical to yours?"

Goliath nodded. "Of course, but… How would he possibly know about us and our past and if he was trying to trick us then why didn't he come up with a more original story than our own?"

Xanatos leaned back. "Okay, let's assume that he is the genuine deal here. Let's assume that he really is just a lost gargoyle who's lost his clan and some of his respect for humanity… What are you going to do about it?"

Goliath cocked his head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"What I say, what are you going do with him? I mean, will he stay here, go away or what?"

Goliath shook his head furiously. "We definitely can't send him away, as all gargoyles need a clan, Demona being the prime example, and what with the Quarrymen out there, it would be less dangerous for him."

"But do you think he'd be able to stand living in a castle that has some humans living in it?"

Goliath sighed and rubbed his temples. "I had thought about this the moment I learned of his hatred of humans. I hoped that living with you and your family and meeting Elisa and Bluestone would help dampen his cold feelings towards mankind."

"Sounds like a plan," Xanatos agreed.

Goliath sighed again. "I hope so, because it's the only one we have at the moment."

0000000000

**Two Weeks Later; **

**Destine Manor:**

"Make way to the docking bay," Ed teased, as he dropped a strawberry into Dominique's mouth.

Dominique smiled soothingly, as she munched the sweet fruit in her mouth with her head laid comfortably on Ed's lap.

"Looks like you're really enjoying that," Ed said as he leaned forward over her.

"Not as much as this," she said as she grabbed his head and kissed him.

Ed didn't even resist.

All those funny feelings of resentment and vile disgust she felt whenever coming close to someone had at long last faded. She still felt a little uncomfortable when near someone, but the full brunt of it had faded over the course of the last couple of months.

She and Ed had been dating for over two months now and so far everything was going swimmingly. She still had amnesia, but she seemed to be making a new life for herself.

Those old mystical junk that had been in her house were still in her garage and had been replaced with fancy ornaments, vases of flowers and photos of her and Ed and even some of the people at work whom she had got to know, Candice among them.

After she had first started dating Ed, he had convinced her to try getting to know some of the people she worked with, try to get a friendship going. She had been reluctant and said she preferred her own space. Ed had sighed, nodded and accepted her decision.

After a while though, she decided that she had nothing to loose and tried starting up a conversation with her secretary. She suspected that her secretary's first thoughts were 'who is this woman and what has she done with the real Destine?'

It had taken a couple of more tries, but gradually Candice and she began to grow on one another and Dominique even invited her to have dinner with her and Ed. They had even gone onto a first name basis, except at work of course as Dominique couldn't let the other employees think she was playing favouritism.

Ed moaned lowly into her mouth, enjoying the warmth of her mouth, the touch of her lips and her taste. "I wish I didn't have to go out tonight," he said almost in despair, as tonight was his patrol night with the Quarrymen. Every night, a patrol of men were sent out onto the rooftops to watch for Gargoyles.

Dominique sighed. "Must you?"

Ed cocked his head down at her. "You having second thoughts? I thought you were all for the Quarrymen and their, oh so noble effort to rid Manhattan of the dangerous menace?"

Dominique frowned. She had felt this way once, strongly before, but during the last couple of months, she had felt some of her rage diminish and was quickly loosing interest in the men in blue masks.

"I might be," she admitted.

Ed shrugged. "Well, truth be told I'm having second thoughts myself, Dom. I mean, a lot of us have yet to see any of these winged demons that we're supposed to be protecting the city from. For all we know it was probably just some guys in a Halloween get-up with fancy gliders."

Dominique smiled, but deep down she didn't believe that. She didn't know how or why, but she was sure that the Gargoyles were real.

"But I promised them that I'd come tonight anyway," Ed said grumpily. "So I'll go with them tonight and let them know that I'm handing in my resignation."

Dominique grinned. "Perfect," she said and kissed him again.

Ed sighed and then groaned as he got back up and put on his Quarrymen uniform.

"What time will you be back tonight?" she asked him.

Ed groaned again.

"Ohhh… _That_ late, hmm?"

Ed frowned miserably. "When I signed up for this, if I had known that they intended me to do all night patrols like a doughnut eating cop then I would have just told them to stick it."

Dominique chuckled. "Well, if it makes you feel any better," she whispered seductively and kissed him on the cheek. "There'll be someone here waiting for you, wanting to give you something."

Ed raised his eyebrows. "Oh, and what surprise, pray tell, is that then?"

Dominique grinned and waved her finger at him. "Uh uhh uhhh, you'll find out when you get home later."

Ed cursed, but kissed his love one final time before wishing her a good night and leaving through the front door.

0000000000

**Above Manhattan:**

Damon soared over the rooftops with his adopted clan, Brooklyn, Angela and Broadway who were with him tonight. He scouted ahead for any of the ungrateful humans that might need their help.

'Why do we pursue this foolish quest?' he asked himself this question every night, but never came up with an answer.

A cry from down below interrupted his thoughts.

_No! No, help!_

Damon's eyes flared and he dove down towards the source of the plea for help, followed by the others closely.

They came upon a young woman with her blouse torn open, surrounded by three men, one holding a purse that must be hers while the other two were holding her by her arms.

"No, please," the girl cried. "You have my money, what more do you want?"

One of the men, an African-American, well built with a goatee and clean shaven head, leered at her as he crept closer and pressed his face right up against hers. "Guess," he simply said and made to kiss her.

The girl squealed, but stopped as the man was suddenly pulled back and thrown in the air. The girl squeaked, as she saw what could only be described as a demon, a blue demon that snarled at the two other men who held her tighter to them, as if for protection.

"Stay where you are," one of the other men, a white man with dirty blonde hair that looked as if it hadn't been washed for weeks with a lean figure and looked as if he was wearing nothing but black leather. The other two men were wearing the same so Damon thought they must be bikers or something.

'Either that if they're just into black leather,' he smirked. "I recommend letting the woman go," he said out loud.

Bother men sneered.

"Yeah right, like that'll ever happen!" the third man, also white with a shaved head and a bit of an overweight figure, said.

Damon shrugged. "Fine, have it your way."

Before either man had time to blink, they heard a loud chorus of roars and looked up, just in time to see two white and one red flashing pair of eyes descend upon them, flattening them to the ground.

The girl dropped to the ground from the impact and fell at Damon's feet, like she was worshipping him. She quickly looked up; as he was beginning to crouch down to help her up.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed and knocked away Damon's helping hands, scrambling and running away.

Damon snarled, as he gritted his teeth, watching the other ungrateful human flee. He was getting more than sick of these patrols and wondered just how long Goliath was going to keep them up before he finally realised that humanity wanted nothing to do with them.

He turned back to the others and watched; as they carefully lifted the three would be assaulters and tied them up with some steel rods.

Meanwhile, the young woman fled out the alley, screaming about monsters and demons until she ran right smack into a group of five men, wearing dark blue hoods and suits and carrying long silver hammers.

"Whoa," one of them said and grabbed her gently, trying to calm her. "Calm down! Now, what's the matter?"

The woman took deep breaths and slowly clamed down, looking him fearfully in the eyes. "Mon… monsters," she breathed out.

"Monsters?" the quarryman said and it hit him. "You mean Gargoyles?"

The woman blinked, as she had been so scared at the time that she hadn't been thinking straight and so hadn't thought of the Gargoyle threat that had New York in a panic. "Yes… I guess so. I mean they had wings and everything… "

That was enough for the Quarrymen. "Where?" they all cried.

The woman pointed back from where she had come.

Okay men," the leader yelled. "Let's go kick us some Gargoyle tail!" All the men eagerly followed their leader into battle except for the one who lacked behind them.

'Shoot,' Ed thought. 'Now I'm really going to be late." But he rushed after his comrades all the same.

The Quarrymen rounded the corner just in time to see the lavender female hoist up an unconscious man over her shoulder, as she was just preparing to tie him up with the rest of his buddies, but they didn't know that.

"Murderer!" One of the Quarrymen shouted and ran forward without thinking, his mates following in after him.

Angela looked up in surprise and darted back to the left, just as a silver hammer narrowly missed her skull by just a few inches.

The rest of the Quarrymen began attacking the others, swinging their hammers to and throw, attempting to dislodge or at least crack a few bones of the beasts.

A loud roar came from the side of them and they turned in time to see a large azure skinned male Gargoyle come right at them, his eyes blazing silver and baring his fangs and claws.

Two of the Quarrymen were lucky and dodged to the right, only to meet up with the crimson fist of Brooklyn and a high kick from the green foot of Lexington.

Ed arrived to see his friend knocked down and watched, as the azure gargoyle rushed into a friend of his and struck him hard. Alarm gripped him, together with dear and anxiety and Ed withdrew his hammer, charged it and ran in to save his friends.

"Hang to it friend," he shouted. "I'm a-comin!"

Damon turned at the sound of the shout, as the Quarryman he had just knocked unconscious slid to the ground, and watched almost in slow motion as one of the Quarrymen's hammers slammed into his chest.

Pain exploded across his chest, as he felt one or two of his rubs crack. He held his ground and somehow managed to stay standing, but still in terrible pain.

The Quarryman, who had attacked him, looked surprised at how he was able to stay standing and watched him for a while before…

"AAAAARRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHH!" Damon's rage filled cry roared to the heavens, as he dove forward and gripped the Quarrymen's head in a vie-like grip and slammed him to the ground and began belting him mercilessly with his fists and claws.

Angela, Brooklyn and Lexington, who had finished defeating the other Quarrymen easily enough, as they were obviously just amateurs looking for a fight, turned at the sound of Damon's cry.

Angela gasped at the sight of Damon beating the Quarryman. "My God… DAMON! Damon, stop!"

Brooklyn and Lexington dashed over to where Damon continued his onslaught upon his victim, taking hold of his arms and attempting to pull him off, but Damon refused to be budged and threw them off him.

He slashed the fallen man with his claws, enjoying the sound and feel of the man's cloth being torn and ripped to shreds, together with what must be his skin.

Blood spurted out from the man's wounds, but still Damon did not stop.

"So you wanted to attack me and my friends did you human!" he growled without stopping. "Well here then, you wanted to fight Gargoyles, so why don't you fight me?" He raised his hand for another strike… and then knew nothing else.

To Be Continued… 


	4. Chapter 4

_**Neither Gargoyles nor anything associated with them belongs to me, but all original characters do and may not be used without permission.**_

_**Thanks to Hardwing and Silverbolt for giving me ideas!**_

_**This fic is dedicated to Lily Maza and Demona Taina, as celebration for their birthdays on the 10th and 12th of December!**_

_**HAPPY BIRTHDAY DT AND LILY!**_

0000000000

**Destine Manor; **

**A Few Hours Later:**

Dominique sighed, as she blew out a few of the candles. Ed had obviously not been kidding when he said he would be working late.

She looked back on the light meal that she had made for them, some oysters, steak sandwiches and some strawberries to go with the chilled champagne.

She had even made the room more romantic by turning out all the lights and filling it with scented candles, which gave the rooms a cosy romantic look and filled it with a sweet smell. She even turned the fire on, adding on that spark of a classic romance novel.

Her idea of a perfect evening that only had one thing missing… her man.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Dominique's face lit up. "Just a minute," she called out and hurriedly re-lit the few candles that she had blown out.

She dusted herself off a little, adjusting the satin dressing gown that hid the black silk nightie underneath.

"Coming," she called and quickly, but elegantly, walked to the front door, expecting to see Ed there waiting for her. "Where have you been?" she said, as she opened the door. "I was beginning to think you weren't… "She stopped and blushed, as it wasn't Ed but Ben at the door.

"Ben!" she squeaked, embarrassed and grabbed the folds of her dressing gown and pulling them tighter together. "If you were going to come over tonight then I would have really appreciated it if you had called me first, I did have plans you know?"

"So I gathered," Ben said, but there was no humour in his eyes, as he looked gravely at her.

Dominique however didn't notice. "Ben, if this is about me representing you and the Quarrymen again then I'm sorry, but I've told you before that I… "

"Dominique," Ben held his hand up to hush her. "I'm not here about that."

Dominique finally noticed the grave look in his eyes and felt a chill go down her spine. "You're not?" she said. "Then what are you doing here?"

Ben looked terribly sad and full of tragedy. "Dominique, me and Ed were on patrol tonight looking out for those Gargoyle creatures."

"Yes, I know that."

"And we saw them!" He said a bit excitingly. "Damn things came out and sacred a young woman practically to death and probably would have ripped her apart if we hadn't come!"

Dominique blinked and felt a certain relief and longing in her, again something that she couldn't understand. "You saw them?" she breathed. "Where? When?"

All the excitement in Ben's face and voice seemed to drain out of him at that moment. "We tried to fight them," he said almost tearfully. "But they were so strong, much stronger than anything we had ever thought possible. We were… reckless and attacked them with only our hammers when we should have brought so much more."

Dominique stepped up to him, looked him in the eye and hissed, "Where… is… Ed?"

Ben swallowed. "We went in and attacked, but they got the better of us and… I dunno, I guess I got the wind knocked out of me because the next thing I remember is waking up in the alley with the rest of us except Ed. We all tried to find him, but it was like he had just vanished into thin air."

Dominique's eyes widened. "You think the Gargoyles took him?"

Ben looked down. "No, I mean I think they might have but… they don't have him now."

"Then where!" Dominique was becoming aggravated.

Ben looked into her eyes and didn't look away. "We sent word to headquarters to keep an eye out for him and to check with all the hospitals and police. We didn't have to search for very long, as… Ed had somehow mysteriously turned up at Manhattan General, left outside on the doorstep no less."

"Then he's there?" Dominique's voice grew frantic.

A tear suddenly fell from Ben's eye. "No Domi," he whispered. "He was beaten up… Real badly! The doctors did what they could, but… it was too late for them to do anything for him."

Dominique went quiet and stared at him, here expression unreadable. 'NO,' she thought, 'don't tell me this, don't tell me this, don't tell me… '

"He's dead Dominique," Ben quietly whispered and grabbed her, as she collapsed.

0000000000

**Four days later; Cemetery:**

Dominique didn't batter an eyelid, as the men lowered Ed in his coffin into the ground and the priest spoke.

"Earth to earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes… "

'Meaningless drivel,' she thought, not caring for what the priest said. She just wanted to get this over with and go home, as she stood there with a blank expression upon her face. She didn't cry, as she had spent the last few days crying and now she doubted that she had any tears left in her.

A few people who had been close to Ed, including Doctor Goldblum from the hospital, came to cast a handful of dirt onto the coffin and crossed themselves, praying for his soul to rest in peace. Goldblum came over to offer his condolences to her, as Ed had often spoken of her at work and how much he loved her.

Dominique simply took his hand and shook it, offering a meaningless 'thanks' before turning to Nancy, who was next in line to say how sorry she was.

Finally, all who was left were her and Ben who had stayed behind to see her home despite her insistence of him leaving.

"Come on Dom," Ben urged her. "There's nothing more to do here, let's get you home."

'But I don't have a home,' she thought miserably, but allowed herself to be led away to the awaiting car where her driver Gregory looked, concerning, at her.

He was another of her employees whom she had gotten close to, thanks to Ed. They didn't go out and she had yet to invite him to dinner, but they talked a lot during the day when he drove her to and from work and all over the city.

"Home sir," he asked Ben, as his employer didn't look up to talking. She had barely spoken at all in the last few days.

"Yes," Ben answered and went back to comforting his friend.

"Ben?" she suddenly said.

"Yeah?"

"Do you still want me to help the Quarrymen for you?"

Ben blinked. "Well, yeah… sure, but… do you think that you'll be okay with that? I mean, you've just lost…"

"I know what I have lost, thank you very much!" she hissed. "I lost one of the first men, who helped get my life back in order, showed me love and kindness and who was there for me all throughout! Now he's gone."

She was silent for a few minutes and Ben idly picked at his nails, wondering what else to do.

"So, do you want my help or not?" she said finally.

Ben sighed. "Only if you're absolutely sure that you want to do this? I don't want to take advantage of you while you're…"

"I'm perfectly fine," Dominique replied, but even if her ears, it sounded like a hollow lie. "I'm only making the offer once Ben, so take it or leave it."

Ben swallowed and sighed again. "Alright, you got yourself a deal."

"No," she whispered. "I'm doing myself and everyone else a favour. Ed believed those things to be dangerous and he was right. They didn't have to kill him, but they did… Now, I want vengeance!"

Ben felt a little nervous at the estranged look in her eyes, but knew what she was going through. "We'll get them for this Dom," he promised her. "I swear it. No one kills a Quarryman and gets away with it."

Dominique nodded. "I still can't allow myself to go public with this, as there are more than enough stupid companies who support groups like the P.I.T Group that would sooner see their children held by a monster than actually do what must be done and exterminate them." She closed her eyes briefly, not believing that so many people could be so blind, even after what had happened to Ed.

Ben nodded sadly. "Sad but true, not everyone can see the menace that they represent… and some just don't want to see it. But we'll see to them Dom, those things won't get away with it this time! I'll make certain of that."

"See to it that you do. I wouldn't want junior growing up, knowing that his father was murdered and not avenged."

"Huh?" Ben gasped and stared at her.

Dominique looked back at him. "I went to the doctors the day after you told me… about Ed," she still couldn't bring herself to say he was dead. "My shrink called me almost straight after and asked me to come down, to talk to him about it. They also did a full check up, seeing as I was there." She paused for a moment and then said, "Apparently… I'm pregnant."

0000000000

**Eyrie Building; **

**Three Days Earlier:**

The clan all roared awake to the evening and Goliath instantly turned around to find Owen and Xanatos waiting to greet him, but the looks on their faces told him that this wasn't a social call.

"Has there been any news?" Goliath asked urgently.

Xanatos sighed. "I managed to find out what had become of the Quarryman that Damon attacked."

Goliath swallowed. "And?"

Xanatos looked at him and Goliath already knew the answer just by looking into his eyes. "He's dead Goliath," Xanatos said. "There was nothing they could have done, as the damage was just too extensive."

Goliath closed his eyes tightly, swearing under his breath in Gaelic. "Has there been any word from Elisa or Bluestone?"

Xanatos shook his head. "No, but then we haven't managed to get through to the police station, as they were extremely busy with outraged calls coming from the general public asking about why the Gargoyle problem hadn't been sorted yet."

Goliath gritted his fangs. In less than one day, one Gargoyle had managed to undo all that he and his clan had been working toward for the past 2 years and to his great surprise, it wasn't even Demona who had done so.

"Where is he?" he spoke under extreme rage.

Xanatos knew whom he was referring to. "Still in his cell, I take it you won't be freeing him anytime soon."

"He'll be lucky if he ever sees the light of the moon again!" Goliath bellowed and strode past them.

The rest of the clan, having heard Goliath's bellow, scaled up the wall of the tower to see what was going on? They took one look at the angry way that Goliath departed and the hard frown that Xanatos threw at them and realised the awful truth.

"Jalapeno," they all chorused together, except Lexington who just looked sadly at the floor with tears forming in his eyes.

0000000000

Goliath made his way down the long corridors, to a special part of the castle that Xanatos had originally installed to hold him and his clan when Xanatos had been after to capture them.

It was six cells fitted with state of the art prison containment from reinforced electrified bars, solid four feet steel and brick walls. It also had surveillance cameras, air vents fitted with knock out gas and even one or two booby traps such as a tranquilliser dart ready to shoot at the prisoner should they escape. Even the floor was electrified and fitted with alarms all around the room.

Xanatos had been planning to revenant it, but Goliath decided against it, as the cell would prove useful for when they were finally able to capture Demona. Goliath still held hope that eventually they would capture the renegade, though part of him was still torn over that.

Goliath knew that Demona was too dangerous to be allowed to continue to roam free. He had made that mistake twice when he had just allowed her to go free after she had poisoned Elisa with the poison dart and had paid for it with the lives of Dragon knows how many humans she shattered when she turned the city into stone. The second time had been after he had freed her from the Wyrd sister's spell of control and sent her and Macbeth away from Avalon, but only succeeded in giving her the opportunity to create the carrier virus that nearly wiped out the entire human race.

Despite all that she had done, he still felt something for his former angel of the night and every time that they fought, it was like having a sword driven through his heart. He only wished that there was some other way, but deep down, he knew there was not.

Demona had to be stopped, plain and simple.

Goliath entered the private area and came to a stop before one of the cells where Damon was sealed within. Damon was there of course, pacing back and forth like a tiger in its cage. He spotted Goliath immediately and growled. "It's about time you got here! What is the meaning of this?"

Goliath's eyes flared white. "The meaning? Do you realise what you have done to us, to our whole race?"

Damon's own eyes glared and flared back at him.

"Because of you," Goliath continued, "we may have just lost any chance we ever had of reconciling with the humans! You killed a human, something that we've been trying again and again to prove to the people that we do not do and now… Now it's all come down to nothing."

Damon sneered. "If you expect me to feel any remorse for that human who attacked me and even your own daughter and second in command, then you're an even bigger fool that what I took you for Goliath."

Goliath growled deeply, his eyes blaring so brightly that one would get spots if they looked at them for too long.

"Remorse I suppose would be too much to hope from you Damon, but if you had bothered to listen to me at all then you would know that because of you, our kind has practically lost all hope of peace. Without peace, the humans will hunt us relentlessly, slowly killing us all one by one."

Damon lost some of his cocky look and began to look insecure.

Goliath took deep breaths. "Because of you, we may never be able to even go on patrol anymore or even out of the castle because every time we do, we will have bullets grazing us whenever we leave our home!"

Damon looked angry again. "They practically were already doing everything that you just said _my leader_," he said scornfully. "Tell me, how many times has a human actually thanked you for saving their life, or actually stayed long enough without first running away, screaming. Humanity is our enemy Goliath!"

His last words sent a chill down Goliath's spine, as that was what Demona had said to him too once.

"Maybe," he admitted, "but it's not just humanity that's our enemy, but people like you. People like you are what bring our race down and ensure that we can never hope for a better life."

Damon's eyes flared. "A better life eh, and what kind of a better life would that be? Maybe one where you're licking the humans boots, saying you're sorry for scaring after you're all beaten and bloody after saving their worthless lives?"

Goliath roared angrily, but Damon didn't even flinch.

"In case you hadn't yet figured it out," Goliath said, "You are now no longer a part of this clan and for the time being, you are hereby confined to this cell to contemplate your situation." With this, Goliath turned and walked out of the room.

Damon snarled angrily and pounced at the bars, only to be reward with a large electric shock.

"YEEEEEAAAAAARRRRRGHHHHHH!"

He carried on like that for about an hour, until he finally gave up and slumped to the floor.

A short time later, he heard the door to the dungeon open and looked up, wondering if Goliath had come back, only to find it was Lexington instead.

Damon cocked his head curiously as the little web-wing walked in. Lexington stared back at him, his eyes full of sorrow.

"Lex," Damon tried to be cheerful, but didn't quite reach it. "So what brings you here to my humble abode?"

Lex's eyes were full of tears and accusation as they glared back at him. "Why?" he whispered silently. "Why did you do it Damon? Why kill that man?"

Damon acted as though it didn't matter to him and shrugged his massive arms. "He was a human; he tried to kill me, what more reason do I need?"

Lex looked at him, full of aghast. "There had to be another way! You could have easily subdued him, knocked him out and then left without a word. There was no reason to kill him!"

Damon snorted. "You sure you and Goliath aren't twins?" he glared at the little olive green gargoyle, who shrank back from Damon's glare. "I've heard all this from Goliath already Lex! Don't kill humans, be at peace, let them walk all over us like dogs and scream whenever they try to help us!"

"We protect," Lex tried to reason with him. "That is… "

"Our nature, our reason for being, blah, blah, blah," Damon yawned. "As I said, I've heard it all before and quite frankly I am sick of it! YOU lot may be all happy with humans treating you like dirt, but not me! I am not going to spend the rest of my life having arrogant bigots walk all over me and then call to me for my help when and only when it suits their purpose!"

"But… "Lex seemed desperate. "I thought we were friends?"

Damon looked on in pity at him. "We are friends Lex, I just don't share your opinion or that of your leader about humans and I most likely never will. So don't go trying!"

Damon sat down and watched his little friend. Lexington stared at him for a few more moments and then turned and ran back the door.

Damn watched him go and stared at the exit for a few moments before whispering. "I'm sorry."

0000000000

**Two Months Later:**

Elisa's car came to a halt, as she pulled up in front of the Eyrie building. She had been gone from home for three months, nearly four, much longer than she had originally thought, but the drugs bust had taken longer than any of them suspected. Now, she was finally home, but not in her own apartment, that was just where she slept and stored all her personal things. Her _real_ home was right on top of this skyscraper where the clan, her clan and more importantly Goliath lived and wherever they lived, _that_ was her home.

She eagerly got out of her car and walked up through the main entrance to Xanatos's private elevator. The guard on duty saw her and smiled, as he had long since gotten used to her comings and goings.

"Welcome back Miss Maza," he said warmly.

Elisa smiled back at him. "Good to be back," she replied and pressed the elevator button and entered the lift.

Soon, she was rocketing up to the top of the tallest building in New York and stepping out into the Great Hall. She took a deep breath, smelling the familiar scents of old stone, leather and smoke from the fireplace.

Suddenly, she heard a loud bark from behind her and turned just in time to see Bronx leap upon her. Fortunately, she had long since gotten used to Bronx's affectionate greetings and braced herself against his heavy bulk, balancing herself so as not to fall over.

"Easy Bronx," she laughed and accepted his welcome home kisses.

"Lass!" a heavy Scottish accented voice called out to her and she looked up to see Hudson hurrying toward her.

"Hey Hudson, any calls while I was out?" she said, but Hudson didn't answer and just gave her a big bear hug.

"Welcome home lass," he said. "We've missed ya!"

Elisa smiled and hugged him back. "It's great to be home too," she replied and soon all the clan came rushing into the hall after hearing Hudson's delighted boom of a voice and she was greeted by all of the clan with hugs, kisses and "Welcome home."

All of the clan were there to welcome her home except for Brooklyn, who had stupidly gone out on patrol again despite Goliath's warning not to, and someone else _very_ important.

Elisa looked around. "Where's Goliath?" she asked, as she had expected him to be the first to greet her, or at least the second.

The clan fell silent and looked at her worriedly.

"What?"

Hudson sighed. "Lass, there be some things ye should know bout what's been happenin in the two months since ye left."

0000000000

Goliath stared out over the battlements and across the city lights and all the sounds of the people from below. Everything had turned out so wrong, as everything he had prophesied to Damon about what would happen after the attack had tragically come true.

The clan had left the next night to patrol and were met with even more hostility than before. Almost everywhere they went, they were ambushed with a trap like the one Damon had run into, mostly by the Quarrymen but unlike the former attacks they had run into with them, the Quarrymen now had more than the average quarry-hammer.

They had not only quarry-hammers, but guns of every size and design from non-projectile lasers, machine guns and even one or two bazookas. Goliath could not even begin to imagine where they had got those weapons from. And those were just the guns; they also had bombs, electric nets and many other types of fancy equipment and weaponry that they must have got from somewhere.

Xanatos said that unless Castaway had recently come into a large inheritance, it was far more likely that the Quarrymen had a benefactor to sponsor them and supply them with all these weapons.

Goliath sighed and did not even hear the light footsteps coming toward him from behind.

"Goliath," a soft and most welcome voice spoke to him.

Goliath spun around and found Elisa looking at him with a deeply concerned look upon her pretty face. He howled in joy and reached her in a single leap, embracing her tightly with his arms and wings.

"Goliath," Elisa repeated, this time with a little difficulty as Goliath was closing off her oxygen. "Goliath, a little air please?"

Goliath gasped and loosened his hold on her, but did not let go. "My love," he cried. "You are here!"

Elisa grinned. "You didn't expect me to stay away much longer did you?"

Goliath laughed and kissed her passionately. They remained like that for a few minutes before finally they broke apart and Elisa was once more staring at him with those wide compassionate eyes that he so adored. This time, the compassion was obviously for him, along with concern.

"Goliath," she began. "I'm so sorry about what happened with the new Gargoyle. The others told me about everything that's happened since I've been away."

Goliath bowed his head in mild grief. "I wish you could have been here. Maybe meeting you first would have dispensed any racism he has about your race and saved us from this atrocity that has occurred."

Elisa shrugged. "Judging from what the others told me, it doesn't sound like there was a lot to save." At Goliath's confused stare, she continued. "From what I can tell, he had a lot of bitterness and hatred toward my kind, maybe meeting me would have dampened it a bit, but… I seriously doubt it would have gotten rid of it completely."

Goliath moaned and nodded. "Perhaps, but at least it might have helped avoid what has happened in the last few days."

Elisa stroked her lover's arm. "We'll get through this Goliath! We've gotten through everything else that life has thrown at us, from long dead sorcerers and mad fairies, to Aliens and demented cyborgs! This is no different."

Goliath wanted to believe her, by the Dragon he wanted to believe her, but somehow he had doubts about this one. "But this is more than just the standard villain out to get us my Elisa, this time we have to deal with an entire race of people who now hate and fear us so greatly."

Elisa blinked back a few tears, as she knew that some of Goliath's words rang true. So she just held onto him and stayed with him.

"Goliath!" a loud voice shouted from up above and the two looked up in surprise to see Brooklyn come crashing down onto the tower, carrying something with him.

"Brooklyn!" Goliath cried out in alarm and ran to his second in command's side.

Elisa ran to his other side and began checking him for injuries. "Goliath," she said. "He's got some major bruises here and I think some cracked ribs." She suddenly noticed what Brooklyn had been carrying.

"Brooklyn?" she cried out in disbelief, "What are you doing with this?" She lifted up a laser gun by its handle, it looked like some of Xanatos', but bigger and with a lot more buttons to press.

Brooklyn coughed up some blood. "I took it from… [Cough] one of the Quarrymen."

"Quarrymen?" Goliath bellowed. "I gave specific instructions that no one was to do any patrolling for the time being!"

Brooklyn winced. "I'm sorry Goliath, [cough]… but I figured that if I faced the Quarrymen then maybe I could get one of their weapons [cough]… and have Xanatos [cough]… trace it back to the [cough]… manufacturer."

"Goliath," Elisa said worriedly. "This can wait until later, but right now Brooklyn is in a dire state and needs immediate medical attention."

Goliath frowned, but nodded and helped Elisa carry his brave, but rather foolish, young warrior down to the Eyrie's emergency infirmary.

Elisa looked at the weapon. If what Brooklyn said was true then, if they could get the name of whoever was supplying weapons to a group like the Quarrymen then they could arrest them for terrorism, and maybe salvage whatever was left of the human's respect for Goliath's clan.

0000000000

A few hours later, Brooklyn was stabilised and was recovering in the Castle infirmary. He had suffered multiple wounds and major injuries including cracked ribs like Elisa had deduced, but thankfully the doctor had told them all that they were able to stabilise his condition and keep him comfortable until dawn and stone sleep should take care of the rest.

The whole clan had sighed in relief.

Meanwhile, Xanatos had taken the gun to Owen, who had instantly begun tracing its manufacturer logon.

A few hours later, most of the clan were all waiting outside Xanatos' office, except Lexington and Broadway who had insisted on staying with their brother, before Xanatos finally opened the door and told them all to come in.

"You'd better all come inside," he said, motioning for them to enter.

The clan, minus four, including Elisa walked into the billionaire industrialist's office, where Owen was sitting at a desk, typing away at a computer.

"Have you discovered who the Quarrymen's benefactor is?" Elisa asked earnestly, eager to find the culprit. She hadn't reported in to the station yet, so she couldn't be sure of the public's reaction to that new Gargoyle Damon's murder, but she could guess. The public were easy to scare and the situation with the clan was a delicate one, it would barely take anything to start a mob, let alone a killing. She was surprised that there wasn't a mob now breaking down the Eyrie building doors.

Xanatos sighed. "Angela, I know you're going to hate me for this," he said, earning him a few strange looks.

Angela looked blankly at him. "What do you… mean… oh no."

Xanatos sighed again and nodded. "Yes, I'm afraid it's true Angela. This particularly design of weapon," he pointed to the laser rifle on a nearby desk, "has been designed by five companies, but only manufactured by three of them. The first one was of course me, but naturally I had nothing to do with it. The second was a foreign company called Belding Corporations, but they recently went bankrupt and the company folded. The third and only one left is… "He paused and was about to continue, when Angela did it for him.

"Nightstone Unlimited," Angela finished his sentence and Xanatos looked at her with true pity in his eyes. "Yes, I'm afraid so."

Angela winced and held back a tear in her eye, while the others all roared in outrage.

"I canna believe the lass would do such a thing!"

"I knew she had sunk low, but even I never imagined that she would go so far as to fully turn against her own kind!"

"I'll haul her straight over to the precinct!"

"Friends, please," Xanatos held out his hands, hoping to regain some order. "I know you're all angry with Demona and with every right to, but none of this is going to help matters."

Most of them calmed down, except for Angela who had been the only one not to loose her temper and just stared down at the floor with tears in her eyes. Goliath however, was not so subtle.

"HOW DARE SHE!" his roar filled the room and made everyone flinch in fear and want to cover up their ears.

"Goliath, please… "Elisa tried to soothe him, but Goliath was beyond caring at that moment.

"I KNEW SHE WAS EVIL, BUT TO ALLY HERSELF WITH THOSE MISERABLE QUARRYRMEN. SHE HAS SUNK EVEN LOWER THAN I SUSPECTED!"

Goliath's loud booming voice echoed off the walls throughout the entire castle. Fox paused, as she bent over to put little Alex to sleep, who started crying again at the loud sound that was Goliath. The trio, who were laughing and joking with one another, froze at Goliath's roar as they all knew his violent temper all too well.

"Goliath… "Elisa tried again, but Goliath just ignored her.

"I WILL BREAK DOWN HER HOUSE, BRICK BY BRICK, AND TEAR HER TO SHREDS!" Goliath swore one final time and then ran out of the room, on all fours.

Everyone, except Angela, Xanatos and Owen, all sped after him to try and reason with him first, as Goliath tended to do some things that he later regretted, when in his rage.

Xanatos noticed Angela and considered trying to speak with her, but judging from her appearance, she didn't look like she was in the mood for talking or being comforted. He took one look at Owen to let him know that it was time for them to go and left with Owen tailing after him.

Angela stood there for a few minutes staring at nothing in particular, the same thoughts racing through her mind again and again, 'Why mother, why?'

0000000000

Goliath fled through the courtyard doors and straight to the battlements, intending to glide straight to Demona's mansion and confront her once and for all.

"Goliath," Elisa's voice barely reached his ears, as he was so intent on confronting his former mate.

"Lad!" Hudson's voice boomed at him. "Wait a wee minute! Ye know Demona will no doubt have her home heavily fortified. If ye seriously want to attempt the impossible then yuir gonna need all of us to help ye."

"I want no help!" Goliath snarled. "Demona has gone too far this time. Her vendetta against humans was bad enough, but this… Attacking her own clan, allying herself with those who would exterminate her own race including her own daughter, it is beyond horror and beyond any feelings of care that I may have still held for her."

With that, he launched himself into the air and headed straight for Destine Manor.

"Goliath!" Elisa cried out once more, but again he chose to ignore her.

"Forget it lass," Hudson said, touching her shoulder. "I've seen the lad when he's like this and no shoutin and talking is gonna make im listen. He's got it into is' head and won't stop until he's followed it through. The best we can hope for is that he learns to calm down before he reaches Demona's home, for both her sake… and his own."

Demona was a great warrior, one of the best, one that Goliath had never been able to actually defeat.

Elisa watched Goliath's disappearing form with fear.

0000000000

**Destine Manor:**

Dominique sighed, as she sat down in front of the fireplace with a mug of hot chocolate and some marshmallows. She hadn't been sleeping too well, not since Ed's funeral. The doctors had tried to convince her to continue seeing her shrink, but she had had enough of doctors and wanted to just be left alone.

As she sat on the couch, sipping the melted chocolate, she touched her belly and felt the little bulge that was beginning to show. A tear came to her, both out of sadness and happiness, happiness that she still had some part of Ed still with her and sadness because their child would never get to know its father.

'Am I strong enough to do this?' she thought to herself. 'Can I really bring up a baby all alone, when I have a company like Nightstone to run and no family or close friends to help me?'

After Ed's death, Dominique had begun closing herself off to all the friends she had befriended like Candice, except Ben whom she interacted with often to supply him and his Quarrymen with the weapons she promised them.

Dominique smiled at that, as that was the one and only good thing that she had in her life, besides her developing baby. It made her feel like she was doing some good for the world by ridding it of those murdering monsters, the Gargoyles.

Dominique frowned a bit. 'If only everyone would stop living in their own cuckoo lands and wake up to the fact about how dangerous those things truly are.'

The last few weeks, she had been getting regularly calls and visits from people representing organisations like the P.I.T Group, People for Interspecies Tolerance, who actually believed that Gargoyles meant them no harm. They thought that they deserved a chance to live and believed them to be peaceful.

The first time they had come around, she believed them to be Jehovah's Witnesses and invited them in for some tea. When they revealed who they truly were, she practically kicked them out and told them to get lost or she'd set the dogs on them.

She didn't have any guard dogs or anything, but it had certainly gotten rid of them fast. However, they or other member of their little club kept coming around to bother her. She was seriously starting to consider having a restraining order placed upon them.

She watched the flames in the fireplace do their merry dance, loosing herself briefly and then looked at the photos of her and Ed together.

'Damn them,' she thought about the Gargoyles, 'damn them all to Hell!'

She threw her mug at the wall, watching it as it shattered and observed the thick brown liquid sliding down and forming a puddle on the floor, before burying her face in her hands and weeping like a child.

0000000000

Goliath soared through the skies, nearing the place of his desire… and rage.

Destine Manor was within a few more feet of gliding distance. Goliath felt his rage continue to grow, his eyes flaring and his fists clenching so tight that any tighter and they would have bled.

"Your evil ends tonight Demona," Goliath swore out-loud and dove toward the house.

0000000000

Dominique wept for barely a minute when her security alarm began beeping.

[BEEP BEEP]

Dominique raised her head and wiped her eyes. 'Now what?' she thought miserably and went to check on her alarm system.

She walked over to the security panel that was hidden in a panel behind a wall and was just one step out of the door when…

[CRASH]

Dominique gasped and turned around in shock. 'What the… ?' she thought and peeked around the corner, only to snatch it back when she saw what had entered her living room.

It was a Gargoyle, a huge giant mountain of lavender muscular Gargoyle, in her living room? She forced her head to sneak back around and spy on the intruder. It seemed to be searching for something… or someone?

Goliath bent his head slightly and sniffed the air. Yes! Demona had been here recently, her scent was still strong but… Goliath frowned. There was something odd with Demona's scent, as it smelt different somehow. He knew her scent off by heart and he couldn't place it, but there was just something with the way it smelt now.

The creak of a floorboard drew his attention and he snapped his head to the sound. A shriek came from just beyond the door and he caught sight of a flash of flaming red hair disappear around it.

"DEMONA!" he roared horrifically, intent on finding and bringing his former mate to justice and began to chase after her on all fours.

Dominique ran to the end of the hall and up the stairs to the next floor. If she was lucky then maybe she could get to a phone and call the police for help. Although part of her was enraged at the nerve of this beast for breaking into her home (not to mention her window) and part of her wanted revenge for Ed's death, but… As much as she wanted to, she knew there was no way that she could ever stand up to a beast like that and get slaughtered.

She raced up the steps and heard the monster roar and its feet pounding the floor on her house, as he sped after her.

'God help me,' she prayed to the almighty to save her ad her unborn child. She was nowhere a phone and the nearest one was in her bedroom, but she'd never make it there in time.

As the beast made its final leap onto the landing, she panicked and dove into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her and locking it.

'… ' she begged whoever was listening.

The door splintered, as the monster's fist slammed into it.

'Apparently no one,' she thought and looked around for anything to use as a weapon, but saw only her scrubbing brush.

The door splintered and threatened to cave in any second. Dominique was, for one insane moment, reminded of the scene in the film 'The Shining' that Ed had taken her to see once.

Dominique jumped into the bathtub and pulled the curtain, thinking insanely that this would protect her. She huddled into the tub, wrapping her arms around her legs and shivered uncontrollably. "Eddy," she cried silently. "Please, help me."

From beyond the door, Goliath rained his rage upon the thick plank of carved wood, sending it into splinters. He had seen the door slam, just as he came up the steps onto the landing and saw where she went. If he had been thinking straight then he would have thought this to be particularly odd behaviour for Demona, but since he wasn't then he just continued his rage.

"Demona!" he roared. "You won't escape! Not this time, not when you would betray your own race and destroy everything we have worked for!"

The door he was slamming was made out of some kind of thick wood and any human would have found it impossible to open when locked. Fortunately, for a Gargoyle it was no problem at all.

After he punched it a few more times, he finally ended it with a huge kick in the centre that sent the door flying off its hinges and landing flat on the floor.

Goliath strode inside and was momentarily surprised that the room that Demona had run into was nothing more than a bathroom. He had expected it to be a control room or something.

He swept his eyes and nose around the room, sniffing and searching for any sign of her, wondering if perhaps she had escaped through a secret passage like Macbeth had done once. Until he heard a faint whimpering coming from behind the shower curtain in the bathtub.

Despite his anger, Goliath found the whimpering utterly confusing. Since when did Demona whimper?

Curiosity overcoming him, at least for the moment, he marched over to the curtain and pulled it back.

Dominique had been cowering in her tub, still praying for salvation when she heard the door shatter and fall.

'This is it,' she thought, but try as she might, she just couldn't bring herself to even stand.

She heard the Gargoyle sniff around and then, after a moment, it began coming over to where she was and grabbed the curtain.

"I hope it's quick," she whispered to herself and shut her tear-filled eyes tightly, not wanting to see her executioner.

The creature pulled the curtain back and stared.

Goliath stared in amazement at the whimpering human, instant dread coming over him, as for one second he believed that he had made the stupid mistake of coming to the wrong house or something. However, upon nearing the petrified human, he looked upon her looks and features and found them much too close to be that of anyone else.

"Demona," he said breathlessly in confusion and amazement. It was night and she was still human, what was going on?

Demona, if that truly was her, remained where she was sitting and sobbed silently.

'If this is Demona, then she has gone through a radical change in personality,' he thought.

The woman slowly raised her head and he looked at her face. The face, the hair, the eyes and even the sound of her whimper, however unusual it was, was most definitely that of his former angel.

"Demona, what has happened?" he asked, not understanding what had happened.

Dominique didn't know what this creature was talking about. She was amazed it could talk, but why was it calling her Demona and, was it her imagination or did this creature actually look familiar?

"Who… who are you?" she rasped out.

Goliath blinked. Okaaay, things had just certainly gotten weirder.

"What do you mean who am I?" he said. "I am Goliath, you are Demona."

Dominique shook her head. "My name is Dominique Destine, this is my home."

His rage was now quickly slipping out of him, only to be replaced with confusion and fascination over what had happened to his arch enemy. He knelt down beside her. "Do you remember who I am at all?"

The woman snarled at him, though not literally. "You're the monster who broke into my home, trashed my door and threatened my life, if that's what you mean?"

Goliath growled a little at the name calling, which made her cower back into her shell.

"Don't you remember who you are?" he asked again.

Dominique wondered if she should tell him about her amnesia, but decided against it. This must be some kind of game the beasts played with their victims before devouring them.

"Do you… know who… you are?" he repeated again and when she still didn't answer, he sighed. He had not been expecting anything like this and thought at first that this might be a trick of hers, but the thought that she'd willingly change herself into a human for any reason was beyond absurd. "Obviously, something must have happened to you and until we determine what that was exactly, you will be coming with me." He reached down to pick her up, but before he had a chance…

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" she screamed and squirted a bottle of shampoo into his eyes.

Goliath roared and jumped, his tail lashing about wildly, knocking all sorts of things over.

Dominique used this opportunity and jumped out of the tub and ran out the bathroom.

Goliath groaned and wiped and blinked the thick chemicals out of his eyes, which were not watering badly, He glared at where Demona/Dominique had run out of, even when she had supposedly lost her memory she was still a source of misery for him.

"Dominique," he called, as that was the name she knew better than her real one. "Dominique, wait! I can help you regain your true memory!"

He ran out into the landing and saw the door at the end of the hallway slam shut. "This is becoming tiresome," he said and ran at the door before making a flying leap and crashing the door down beneath his heavy weight.

Dominique froze, as Goliath came crashing through and rolled to a stand right in front of her, as she held the phone in her hand.

"You won't need that," he said calmly and took the phone out of her hand and crushing it in his own. "Now, may I suggest we…? "

[THUD]

Goliath's eyes started to water again, as Dominique slammed a wardrobe pole right up between his legs. She tried to escape, but this time Goliath grabbed on and held onto her tightly. "Reallllllly… _tiresome_," he hissed through his fangs. "However, you are coming with me whether you like it or not _Miss Destine_!"

"Not unless you wish to try flying as stone," she replied thinly, pointing at the window.

Goliath frowned and then blanched when he saw the sun beginning to peek over the buildings. He glared down at her, but then… he smiled. "If we can't get to the Eyrie by tonight then we'll get there tomorrow."

Dominique gritted her teeth at him. "What makes you think I'll let a monster like you live?" She yelped as Goliath suddenly picked her up, knelt down on the floor and cloaked his wings around them.

"Because I don't intend to let you go," Goliath said before the sun encased him in stone.

Dominique screamed and kicked, but instantly regretted it as her foot connected with solid stone and she bit her lower lip in pain. She tried struggling out, but the big purple beast had entrapped her in its arms.

"Ahhh, shoot," she said out-loud.

0000000000

The day past by slowly and Dominique felt sure her spine would snap soon unless she got out of this monster's arms. She ached all over and was as stiff as a board.

Finally, the sun sank below the horizon and she couldn't help but wonder what it was like when Gargoyles awoke. She listened and heard the mistakes crackles that were occurring all over her warden's body and suddenly he sprang up, his stone skin flying from him as he spread his wings and roared.

Dominique winced, as Goliath's roar went right down her ear and then she glared hatefully and fearfully up at him.

Goliath still held onto her and smiled at her. "Sleep well?"

Demona didn't answer and just spat in his face.

Goliath frowned and used his wing talon to wipe the spit off him. "Obviously not," he sighed.

0000000000

**Eyrie Building:**

Elisa paced the walls of the battlements anxiously. Goliath hadn't come home last night and she was worried sick about what might have happened between him and Demona. Assuming of course that anything had actually happened, which was what was worrying her.

When Goliath didn't arrive home last night, she had gone straight to Nightstone Unlimited to see what Demona had done to him, but apparently 'Miss Destine' hadn't been in to work all day, which made her all the more nervous. With nothing to do and unable to sleep in peace, she had gone to her precinct and began looking into anything she could find about the Quarrymen and Nightstone.

It turned out that Demona had been in some kind of an accident about a few months ago that had left her with amnesia. At first, Elisa was sceptical and believed this could just be another one of Demona's tricks to lure the clan in. She heard that Morgan had been in charge, but he was busy out on patrol, so she decided to return to Nightstone and find out what she could there.

The real bombshell had come from Demona's secretary Mrs Candice Williams, who had been in the middle of telling her how well her employer had been doing since her accident and how well a housekeeper she was.

Elisa had looked up from writing her notes with a raised eyebrow and asked her what she meant by that and Candice told her that she had invited her and her husband to dinner one night.

It had taken all of Elisa's willpower not to splutter out the coffee, she had been drinking at that time, in shock. _Night?_

She had dove straight into even more questions, asking Mrs Williams if Miss Destine had been alright that night, had anything seemed out of place, did she seem reclusive and wouldn't let anyone come near her. But Candice had said her employer had been the perfect hostess and that everything had been fine with her and her boyfriend Ed Kilby.

That time, Elisa had spluttered out the coffee and stared amazingly at Candice for a whole minute. Candice must have thought she was having a heart attack or something, which she probably nearly did, but Elisa was past caring about that then. She had asked about Ed Kilby and Candice had told her that he had been an English immigrant and doctor at Manhattan General Hospital before he was killed recently.

Elisa had grimaced at that and thought that Demona must have done that, but what Candice told her next made her blood run cold.

"He had been out on patrol with that club of his," she had said. "The funny ones with the blue masks and the hammers, you know?"

Oh yes, Elisa did know that club very well. She had swallowed and hoarsely said, "What happened and when was this?"

Candice frowned and then said, "About a coupla months ago, the Quarrymen usually go on patrol looking to protect any people from those Gargoyle things that everyone claims to have seen. I see them every now and again, walking by my apartment building. Ed was with them the night he was killed and apparently, they saw one of those things and attacked it, but the beast got the upper hand and… Poor Ed, the thing had attacked one of his friends and he went to try and stop it, but ended up getting slain by it himself."

Elisa felt her heart plummet, as she still found it heart wrenching to hear every time someone mentioned the fact that a Gargoyle had attacked someone. It had seriously destroyed the clan's reputation. 'But wait, maybe that had been Demona's plan all along,' she thought excitedly. 'Maybe this Damon really is in cahoots with Demona and she organised it with him to kill that Quarrymen whom she befriended to spy and use the Quarrymen and then she didn't need him any longer… ?"

However, as likely as it seemed that Demona was involved in something like that, she couldn't get over the nagging feeling that that wasn't it. It sounded like a good plan, but if so then why had she bothered changing herself into a full human? It was obvious that was what must have happened if she was seen as a human at night and she just couldn't picture Demona doing anything like that willingly.

Elisa frowned miserably, unable to see any pattern or sense in anything.

On a happier note, the doctors had been right about Brooklyn and now, thanks to a days worth of stone sleep, he was now completely healed. Broadway was even now fixing him a special breakfast in the castle kitchen along with the rest of the clan, but she just wasn't in the mood.

_"Put me down you stupid beast!" _a faint voice from overhead caught her ear and she looked up to see Goliath land on the battlements with a thrashing human woman in his arms. It took only look at her to know that this was Demona, as she only knew of one woman who had fiery green eyes and flaming red hair like that.

"Goliath," she said breathlessly, but Goliath just held out his other hand to silence her while he kept a firm hold of his prisoner with his other hand.

Dominique tried to escape, but one growl from the lavender beast made her freeze in fear. She had at first been grateful to see a human and thought that she would help her, but judging from the strange look she was giving the monster, she didn't hold onto much hope of that.

In fact, she was almost looking at the creature with, what was that... concern… affection? No, it couldn't be true; someone couldn't actually care about these murderers, could they?

"Elisa," Goliath began, "something, I don't know what, but something has happened to Demona. As you can see she's still in her human form and she apparently has no memory of whom or what she truly is… "

'Who and _what_ I truly am?' she thought, confused. 'What does it mean by that?'

Elisa nodded. "I know," she answered. "During the day, when you didn't come back home, I went back to work and Nightstone to find out anything I could about what she might be up to. From what I've gathered, she was apparently in some of accident at home, involving a bomb that left her with amnesia. A friend of mine, Officer Morgan was the one who found her. I haven't had a chance to speak to him yet, but the guys at work say she was found at home, half naked and slightly singed, right in the middle of the room where the explosion took place. However, they could find no remains or traces of any bomb or anything that could have started the explosion."

Goliath frowned and thought for a moment. "An explosion with no bomb, in Demona's own home and her left completely human with no memory. This can only mean one thing." He looked to Demona. "You must have been dabbling in sorcery again, haven't you?"

Dominique looked at him, as though he was mad. "You're… You're crazy! I don't know what you're talking about."

Elisa sighed. "There's no point in asking her anything Goliath. She won't know what you're talking about."

Goliath growled in frustration. "Maybe, but I want to know is… why? Why are you sponsoring the Quarrymen? We have done you no wrong."

Dominique glared at him. "If you call murdering my boyfriend no wrong then you have a strange idea of what's right or wrong in your head!"

Goliath looked taken back at that and blinked, "Boy… friend?

Elisa shrugged. "Seems that since Demona doesn't know who she was, she's been living as what she thinks she is, as a human. That includes doing things like going out, having a good time, one that doesn't include turning innocent humans into stone and smashing them and apparently even getting a boyfriend."

Goliath blinked at her and then back at the human turned Gargress. "You… have a human lover?"

Dominique glared at him with tears in her eyes. "I HAD a lover, thanks to you."

Goliath looked confused and Elisa gave him a sad look. "It appears Goliath that that human who… Damon killed. That man was none other than Edward Kilby, a doctor at Manhattan General, and Demona's lover."

Goliath felt an enormous weight come over him. It had been bad enough that Damon had killed a human, thus destroying what little hope their clan had for peace. But now it seemed that Damon had also unknowingly destroyed a possible chance for them to deal with Demona and her intense hatred of humanity as well.

Suddenly, Goliath thought of something. "Wait, that human was a quarryman wasn't he?"

Elisa nodded. "That explains how Demona got involved with the Quarrymen. He must have dragged her along to one of their meetings one night and she joined up."

Goliath in almost pity at his former mate, turned human. "Why would you support a group that is hell bent on our destruction, when you haven't even had the chance to meet us first, let alone judge us?"

Dominique looked away. "Me and Ed were actually getting ready to quit the Quarrymen. He was on his last patrol that night when you and your kind attacked him."

Goliath shut his eyes briefly and opened them up to gaze sorrowfully at Elisa, and then back at Demona. "I am sorry for the death of your… lover. But please try to understand that I had no part in his murder. A rogue gargoyle is to blame, I… "

Dominique snorted. "I couldn't care less about which of your kind is to blame. As far as I'm concerned, you're all guilty."

Elisa groaned. "Looks like Demona is just as much hateful and bigoted now, as she was when she was a Gargoyle."

"When I was a WHAT?" Dominique screeched in shock and denial.

0000000000

Goliath had taken Dominique to one of spare rooms and locked her there, not knowing what else to do, while Elisa went to fetch the others.

"Jalapeno," Goliath swore to himself. He had been prepared for fighting Demona, to endure whatever it was she may have had planned for him such as laser cannons, magic spells and all around butt kicking high kicks, slashes and punches. But this, he wasn't at all ready for this kind of situation. He didn't even know whether he wanted to help or not.

True, Demona was their enemy and, Dragon help him, she was definitely not even his least favourite person. But she had been at one time once, long ago, when her heart and his had beaten as one and he would have given anything to save her.

That time however was now gone, like a dream and would most likely never return. Demona was now the clan's worst enemy and the greatest danger to all humankind and now apparently their kind as well.

Goliath frowned and ran his claw through his hair, not knowing what to do. If on the one claw, he were to just leave Demona as she was, a human with no memory of her past, then maybe the clan could convince her they were her friends and be able to redeem her.

'And maybe pigs can fly,' he thought amusedly. He must remember to ask Elisa what that phrase meant one of these nights. Last time he checked, pigs couldn't fly.

Dominique, the human, had made all too clear that she hated them and blamed them for the death of her lover. So they could actually be getting rid of one enemy, by creating a new and even worse one through Dominique. She had all the resources of her company, all of which she was willing to share with their whole kind's worst enemy, the Quarrymen. As long as she kept supplying them with her company's weaponry then there was little chance that they would ever be able to go on patrol safely again.

They could keep her prisoner, but since her memory loss, Dominique had made friends at work and when she didn't turn up, those friends would come looking for her and if they found her then their reputation as protectors would go down even more. Plus, there was no way to know that even if she didn't turn up that those weapons wouldn't keep getting shipped into the Quarrymen's greedy hands.

On the other hand though, if he did help Demona by regaining her memory then that might save the clan from the Quarrymen, as he doubted that Demona would continue supplying her weapons to an organisation such as they. However, at the same time, in doing so they would once again face the problem of Demona's never ending hatred of humanity and him.

Goliath frowned miserably.

The sound of foot and claw steps got his attention and he looked up to see most of the clan coming to him.

"Goliath," Angela said, looking at him with questions in her eyes. "Is what Elisa told us true? Has mother truly lost her memory about who and what she truly is?"

Goliath nodded.

Broadway moved up beside his mate and embraced her, doing his best to comfort her. To which, Angela smiled and touched his hand.

Hudson had a slight disbelieving look in his good eye, but kept silent. Goliath had often wondered how Demona's betrayal had affected him. It had hurt him bad because he had been her leader, rookery brother and more importantly, her mate and supposedly one true love. However, Hudson had also been her leader, surrogate father, teacher and friend. He had helped raise and train her along with all the eggs of their generation, she was technically his daughter and although he always kept a strong stature, Goliath had noticed, thanks to years of observation, a glint of grief in his mentor's eye whenever Demona's name was mentioned.

Whereas in Brooklyn's eyes, there was… say! Where was Brooklyn anyway?

A scream suddenly erupted from the room where Dominique was being kept.

'Oh no,' Goliath groaned, hurrying to the door. 'He didn't… '

To Be Continued… 


	5. Chapter 5

_**Neither Gargoyles nor anything associated with them belongs to me, but all original characters do and may not be used without permission.**_

_**Thanks to Hardwing and Silverbolt for giving me ideas!**_

_**This fic is dedicated to Lily Maza and Demona Taina, as celebration for their birthdays on the 10th and 12th of December!**_

_**HAPPY BIRTHDAY DT AND LILY!**_

0000000000

**Eyrie Building: **

Dominique swore angrily, as she paced the floor of her room and now present cell. 'This can't be happening,' she thought to herself.

After Elisa Maza had mistakenly let slip out that she had once been a Gargoyle, Dominique had demanded an explanation. Thus, Goliath had been forced to revel to her the truth, or what he wanted her to believe was the truth anyway.

Apparently, she had been born, or hatched as the Gargoyle said, as a Gargoyle over 1000 years ago. The reason for why they were still alive was because she was immortal and he and the rest of the clan had been turned to stone for most of that time.

Dominique had actually laughed at that. Despite her enormous fear of the big lavender monster, the whole idea that she was an immortal Gargress, hundreds of years old and bent on destroying all the human race, it was so ridiculous that it sounded like something out of Harry Potter or Lord of The Rings. Just what kind of a fool did this Goliath take her for?

When she had told them as such, they had brought her here to this room. It was some kind of guest room, fitted with all the modern conveniences and was very suede, but it to her it was a cell nonetheless.

She continued pacing the floor in anger and fear. She didn't know which emotion was stronger, her anger at the Gargoyles for kidnapping her, or the fear for what they might do to her and the baby that was inside of her.

So intent on completing her 300th pace on the floor that she didn't notice the two white flaring eyes that were glaring at her through the window.

Suddenly, the window sprang open and Dominique turned in shock and then all she could do was gasp, as standing there was none other than the devil himself. A tall crimson red beast with a long beak, white hair and silver flaring eyes that growled ferociously at her.

Dominique gasped again and whimpered in fear, as she backed away slowly from the beast. So terrified she was that she didn't notice the creature curve its beak, almost as if it were smirking.

The creature then raised its arms and cried… "BOO!"

Dominique screamed and ran to the door and began pounding on it with her fists. "Let me out! Help, there's a demon in here!"

Brooklyn chuckled and began slowly moving towards her, in a Frankenstein impression, growling and snarling.

Dominique screamed again and ran to a corner, huddled up and whimpered.

Brooklyn was having a hard time keeping his laughter cooped up. He had been after Demona for ages, to get her back for using him to trap Goliath, so when he heard from Elisa about her apparent amnesia; he had to see if it was true. If she had no recollection of being a Gargoyle, then she might not remember anything else either, like how to be brave.

"Boogabooga," he waved his claws at her and despite how stupid that sounded, she was still actually scared and huddled up even more into her corner.

There was an instant pounding on the door from the other side, most like Goliath, but Brooklyn was having too much of a good time to stop now.

"Hey babe," he grinned and licked his beak. "Fancy some lunch? How about some nice… WOMAN PIE!"

Dominique wailed and cried out.

Finally, the door banged open and Brooklyn looked to see an angry Goliath's face, glaring at him.

'Whoops,' he thought, looking at the rage-full look of his mentor and leader. 'Something tells me that maybe I went a little too far this time?'

"Brooklyn," Goliath hissed, "get out now!"

"I'm going," Brooklyn replied quickly and sprang out of the room. He briefly considered making one final growl at Demona, but the look from Goliath told him better.

Angela came in, after giving one stern look at Brooklyn, and went to her mother.

"It's okay," she whispered, trying to calm the disturbed immortal. "That's Brooklyn, he won't hurt you. He just… acts immature sometimes, but he's no real danger."

Dominique quivered at the touch of the Gargress's clan, so Angela took her hands off her until she finally stopped crying. It was amazing for Angela to see her mother like this, as she had never dreamed of seeing her mother cry.

Goliath found it slightly unbelievable too, but he had already seen some of Demona's strange behaviour so he was used to it. He had even seen her cry when she still had her memories back, when she had turned the entire into stone. It had been one of the rare moments when he felt absolute pity for his former mate.

Angela looked to her father. "Father, may I have some time with her alone, please?"

At first, Goliath wanted to say no, to say that Demona was too dangerous and capable at anything, like he and Hudson had tried to warn her the last time she wanted to stay with her when they had supposedly captured her and imprisoned her in the labyrinth. However, in a way, this wasn't Demona, but a human female that was frightened and alone. Judging from the way she had acted when he found her, he knew that Angela was in about as much danger from her as a lion was from a mouse."

"Very well," he agreed and walked out the room, shutting it behind him.

Angela looked back at once had once been her mother and un-wished for enemy, and sighed.

"Who… who are you?" the woman stuttered.

Angela was surprised that Dominique had the courage to talk to her. "I'm Angela," she sighed again, remembering the last time she said what she was about to say, "Your daughter."

Dominique looked at her, her eyes as wide as saucers. "You… are… completely crazy!"

Angela felt a headache coming on. She didn't know which was worse, the time when her mother had accused her of mocking her when she had known the truth the whole time, or this time when she just didn't believe it at all.

"It's true," she said, trying to reach her. "I guess there's only one way for me to tell this story and that's from the beginning."

She took a deep breath and started to tell her mother all that she knew of the time of her life before the massacre. To when the Princess brought her and her rookery kin to Avalon, to when the clan awakened and finally, to when she and her mother first met though she left out the details of her mother using her.

After she told the whole story, Dominique could just stare at her. It was more or less the same story that that Goliath and Elisa had told her, but she just couldn't bring herself to believe it.

"I don't… This can't be true," she swore. "I am Dominique Destine, CEO of Nightstone Unlimited! I am NOT a Gargoyle, nor do I wish to be. Therefore you can't be my daughter and this is certainly not my clan! I have no family… "She had paused a little after that because of the baby she was having, which was family, but she didn't want to let them know about it. They might decide to hurt it.

Angela moaned. "I know it all must seem very unreal and incredible to believe, but nevertheless it is true mother, you are… "

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" she screamed. "I AM NOT YOUR MOTHER!"

Angela winced at that. In all the words that her mother had ever spoken to her, the things that she had done. None had cut her so deeply than what she had just said.

"Yes I am," she simply replied, covering her pain, "whether you want to believe it or not be irrelevant, because in the end, it's still true. You are Demona of the clan of Wyvern, its former second in command and mate to Goliath and… my mother."

Dominique went quiet then, but in her eyes there was still the look of denial.

Angela chewed her lower lip for a moment. "Do you remember anything at all before the… accident, at your home, anything from your life, anything at all?"

Dominique stubbornly turned her head for a few seconds, but then she frowned and said, "Yes, a few things I do recall, but it had nothing to do with your kind, Gargoyle."

Angela winced again, but kept her cool. "What was it?"

Dominique sighed. "I remember some scenes from my mind, but… I don't actually remember me being in them. It's as though I'm just looking at them, like I look at the television."

"Well, what are they?"

Dominique shrugged. "Just… images, faces of people. Three to be exact, one is a tall man with black hair and a moustache… and three children, a tall boy who looked a lot like the man, a young dark blonde-hair girl with big blue eyes and a small boy with dark-blonde hair and little blue eyes."

Angela frowned, as she didn't know what the heck these memories meant? "Are they Gargoyles?" she asked hopefully.

Dominique sneered. "No."

Angela was slowly loosing patience with her… sort of mother. "No need to be rude. What were the people doing?"

Dominique frowned again, as she thought hard to remember. "Some scenes I remember were of all of them decorating a Christmas tree and such. Others were… I think they were training or something."

"Training?"

Dominique nodded. "Yes, mostly in martial arts and… other things. I also… "She stopped then and shuddered.

"What?" Angela pressed on.

"There's one other thing I remember clearly. The man, the tall man in my vision, I see him going off to… I don't know what he's doing, but the kids are scared for him. He's at a high building and goes inside to get to the top and then… "

"What?"

Dominique blinked a tear out of her eye. "I see him… falling off the building and dying."

Angela felt pity for her, but if this was some of Demona's memories then she doubted that she would ever feel any sadness for the death of one of their kind. She thought about the man and his family, thinking about how hard it must have been for the children to loose their father so young and… Suddenly she thought of something. What Dominique had told her sounded awfully like…

"Dominique," she began again, hurriedly. "Think! When the children and the man, their father, were training and fighting. Do you remember what they were wearing?"

Dominique gave her a funny look. "Why is that important?" she asked, but Angela just hurried her on.

"Answer the question," Angela said. "What… were they wearing?"

Dominique blanched a little at Angela's harsh tone. "Umm, I don't know, it was some kind of weird battle gear like out of a Ninja film or something. They were dressed mostly in black."

"Were they wearing masks?"

"Umm, yes... why?"

"Did the masks have any markings on them?"

Dominique thought for a moment and then nodded. "Yes, three or four red scratch marks on them."

"The Hunters!" Angela realised. As far as she knew, the last time, before the Hunter's Moon incident, Demona had encountered the Hunters had been over 70 years ago and she didn't face them again until then. If so then why did she remember the Hunters when they were young?

"I'll be back shortly," she said abruptly and left quickly to find Goliath.

0000000000

Goliath had come out of the room where Demona was being kept and glared at his cocky young second in command. "Would you mind telling me just what the Hell you were doing in there with her?" he ordered.

Brooklyn gulped and shifted his feet nervously. "Umm… making sure she was settling in okay?"

Goliath's eyes flared.

"Okay, okay," Brooklyn held up his hands in defeat. "I was just… having some fun with her, that's all."

"Fun?" Hudson bellowed. "You scared the livin daylights outta her!"

Brooklyn shuffled his feet a little bit more. "I didn't hurt her."

Just then, Owen came around the corner. "Forgive the intrusion, but Detective there is a phone call for you from your precinct. It's about a mister Morgan whom apparently you've been trying to get a hold of for some time?"

Elisa nodded and squeezed Goliath's arm a little. "I'll be back later Goliath."

Goliath nodded and watched while she went, before turning back to Brooklyn. "Well?"

"Well what?" Brooklyn said. "That's all that happened. I was just having some fun, that's all."

"By scaring her to death?"

Brooklyn's own eyes flared a little. "Sorry if I'm sounding selfish or anything Goliath, but considering that Demona used me to get to you and betray my clan, I thought I was entitled to just a little revenge!"

Goliath's eyes died down and he looked almost pitifully at him. "No Brooklyn, not selfish. However, your display here tonight has shown that you most definitely not a mature Gargoyle yet, if ever."

Brooklyn's face fell and he looked miserably to the ground.

Hudson sighed. "Dinna be too hard on the lad Goliath. As I recall, ye yuirself went ahead and played a wee trick or two on some of the humans and others of your generation when ye were his age."

Goliath blushed a bit, but looked annoyed at Brooklyn's smirk. "Maybe, but I never scared anyone with my antics."

Now Brooklyn looked annoyed. "Hey, at least I didn't go all vengeful and try to kill her like Coldsteel!"

"May I assume that your discussion is something to do with Miss Demona?" Owen's voice asked.

Goliath growled. "Yes!"

"What appears to be the problem?"

Goliath sighed. "We can't be sure, but I think it's fairly obvious that Demona must have been doing something magical, which… did not turn out like she had planned."

"YA THINK?" Brooklyn's astonished voice said, but looked away when he saw Goliath glaring at him with that 'watch it' look of his.

Owen cocked an eyebrow. "If it was magical then perhaps Puck and Alex could assist in some way?"

Goliath looked at him hopefully. "Could you?"

Owen nodded. "Yes, but I would require the knowledge of what kind of spell it was that Demona was involved in. Otherwise I dare not take a risk, as mixing is exceedingly dangerous and it might make the situation ten times as worse."

Goliath sighed and nodded. "That's what we're trying to determine now."

Just then, Elisa came hurrying around the corner. "Goliath, I just spoke with Officer Morgan, the guy who found Demona at her mansion. He said that when he found her, she was in a small room at the top floor. There were all kinds of strange trinkets and items in her place and she was lying in some circle drawn on the ground with a bowl of water next to her. He said she might have been bathing in it."

Owen nodded his head, as he processed what she was saying. "That does give me some idea as to what she may have been doing, but there are a number of different rituals and spells and she could have been using either one of them. Does anyone have any other information to give me?"

Elisa nodded. "Apparently, the same night that Demona had her accident, she was due to have a meeting with the directors of Golden Cup."

"Golden Cup," Goliath asked, he knew the name as he had seen the building multiple times.

Elisa nodded. "Yes, apparently she's been trying to fix a meeting with them for ages and Golden Cup doesn't usually do business with outside companies. However, they could only give her one meeting at night, the night when Demona had her accident."

"But that would mean that they would have seen her in her true form," Goliath said blankly. "I can't believe Demona would want this deal so badly that she would be willing to reveal her true self."

Elisa screwed her face up a bit in aggravation, as she concurred. That certainly didn't seem like Demona's style, revealing her to humans.

"Unless she had an ace up her sleeve," Xanatos's voice came from behind and they turned to see him with baby Alex in his arms.

"What do you mean Xanatos?" Goliath asked sharply.

Before anyone could answer though, the door to the guestroom sprang open and Angela fled out, looking wild eyed.

"Angela," Goliath began. "What is…? "

"Goliath," Angela said desperately. "I've just been talking with Demona… I mean Dominique and she says that she does remember some things, only she doesn't think they're her past and frankly after hearing what she just said, I believe her!"

"Wait, slow down," Goliath held his daughter's shoulders. "What do you mean? What memories?"

Angela took a few deep breaths. "Mother said she had some strange memories. However, when she told me about them, they were obviously not hers!"

"Huh?" Lexington, Brooklyn and Broadway both said, confused.

Angela then explained to them all that her mother had told her. When she came to the part about the Hunters, their eyes grew wide and flared white.

"I believe that I am beginning to see what has occurred," Owen said and everyone looked to him expectedly.

"Tell me mister Xanatos," Owen turned to his employer. "What were you going on about before Miss Angela strolled in?"

Xanatos shrugged. "I said that if I was Demona then I would have an ace up my sleeve. Like Miss Maza told us, she had been waiting for that meeting with Golden Cup for ages, like many other companies and I have. It would be a terribly big blow to her ego if she had to miss her one opportunity because the only meeting she could have was at night. However, as we all know, Demona is an accomplished sorceress and very powerful, so I'm sure that it wouldn't be beyond her abilities to find a spell that could either disguise or maybe even transform her temporarily into a full human for at least one night."

Realisation dawned on everyone's faces.

"So," Lexington finished Xanatos's summarise. "Something must have gone wrong with the spell that she cast and caused her both to change into a full human, and then loose her memory."

"Maybe," Xanatos admitted. "However, whatever faults Demona may have, stupidity and laziness aren't them. I remember when she and I worked together to bring Coldstone to life, she was incredibly thorough with her studies in the mystic arts and went over everything again and again to be sure that everything was accounted for and that nothing would go wrong. I highly doubt that she would leave anything to go for chance in a spell like this one where she might be trapped as a human forever."

Goliath had to agree with him on that. Demona had always been passionate about her studies, even as a hatchling and he certainly didn't believe that she would want to chance being stuck as a 'pitiful human,' as she would say.

"So what then," Brooklyn asked. "If it wasn't an accident on Demona's part then what caused this?" he said as he pointed to the door to the room where Demona was being kept.

"An outside job, perhaps?" Broadway mused, as he scratched his chin.

"Outside job?" Goliath enquired.

Elisa leaned over to him. "He means that maybe either someone, who Demona was working with, double-crossed her and caused the spell to backfire or… Maybe someone interrupted the spell and caused just that! Since I doubt that Demona would work with anyone, I'm leaning towards the second option."

"The Hunter," Goliath swore.

"Accurate assumption, Goliath," Owen said. "Since both Jason Canmore and his sister are still in jail then it must obviously be their younger sibling, John Canmore."

The clan nodded, but there was still much confusion.

"So the memories that Demona has, are not hers but Johns?" Hudson asked, still confused while Bronx whined miserably, not understanding anything that was going on.

"Yes," Owen replied, but Brooklyn just shook his head in exasperation.

"But if that's the case then why does Demona have some of his memories in the first place," Brooklyn said. "Furthermore, why didn't he stay to kill her when the spell backfired? He couldn't have been hurt because he wasn't at the house when the cops got there."

"Unless he managed to escape before they did get there?" Broadway said.

"From an explosion like that? The only reason Demona did is because she's immortal, worst luck."

Angela scowled at Brooklyn's last sentence, but said nothing.

"She would have survived anyway," Owen continued. "The magic of the spell she used might have protected her a little, not completely but some and if Canmore was in the line of magic when it occurred then chances are he might have been caught in the spell too."

"But the spell, we assume, was designed to turn a Gargoyle into a human. If it did that to Demona then what could it possibly do to Canmore?" Lexington said, while his brain was hurting.

The clan went silent then for a few moments, before something suddenly occurred to each of them.

'No,' they all thought simultaneously, especially Lexington. "It can't be true!'

"Damon," Angela whispered the name fearfully.

"Damon," Xanatos, having been the only one who hadn't thought of it, said. "What's he got to do with this?"

Goliath understood all too well, as he looked to Xanatos. "Recall that when we asked him about his clan and his past, he would forever evade our questions. Up to now, I always thought that he was merely suffering from a tragic past such as we had. Then, when he told us that story that sounded so remarkably similar to ours, we believed, but… Now that I think about it, I realise now his much his story is identical to ours, almost as though… "

"They were one of the same story!" Brooklyn concurred, his feeling of dread settling in.

"Meaning," Lexington continued the thought, his eyes filled with pain and denial. "That either Damon was in cahoots with Demona who told him our story, which is not likely given her current position, or… He shares some of her memories."

"Meaning he went through the same thing that Demona did and since he's no human then… "

Everyone went quiet again until Owen cleared his throat. "As I said," Owen said again. "I believe I can explain what has happened to Demona, and now it seems Mr Canmore." He took a moment to get everyone's attention and then continued.

"Demona was indeed doing a spell that would make her temporarily human for the night so that she could indeed attend her meeting at Golden Cup. However, mortal spell transformations are very delicate and require much concentration and accuracy, nothing must be amiss. So obviously, at the last moment when the spell was to be complete, John Canmore must have broken into her home and disrupted the ritual thus contaminating the spell. The end resulted in both Demona and Canmore being transformed. Since the spell was designed to change one Gargoyle into a human and there were two people in the circle at the time, one of them a human, it instead took Canmore's humanity and gave it to Demona and gave her Gargoyle-hood to Canmore, making him what he is."

Owen stared at everyone's shocked and sullen faces, them realising what Damon truly way.

"As for their loss of memories," Owen said. "I imagine that when they exchanged each other's human and Gargoyle-hoods, they also exchanged some of their memories as well, but only the really strong and most active memories in their minds. Canmore's strongest memory is obviously the time when he lost his father and spending Christmas with his family before then and Demona's is when she lost her clan."

Goliath felt a twinge of hope that maybe Demona wasn't as heartless as he had lead himself to believe all these years. He had hated her for so long for what she had done, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel pain whenever he thought of how she must live with herself for all the pain that she must know that she herself had caused.

"So… "Lexington began, almost tearfully. "Damon is actually… he's… "

"He is John Canmore, Lexington," Owen said regretfully, though his voice carried little of it, for as always, his voice was stoic.

The clan had never felt so dejected and sullen before in their lives. In the weeks before Damon had killed that human, they had grown to love him as if he were their own brother, yet to find out that all the time, he was one of their most hated enemies.

Angela felt grieved too, but right now they had more important things to discuss. "Owen, how can we help out mother?"

"Huh?" Brooklyn said in surprise. "What do you mean help her?"

Angela looked blankly at him. "Well, to help restore her memories of course."

Brooklyn looked at her as though she were insane. "Are you NUTS? This is the best chance we have at finally getting rid of her. As a human and with her memory gone, she has no memory of being a sorceress or even a warrior; she has no vendetta against humans and even believes herself to be one. She's completely harmless in the way she is now! Why the devil would you ever want her back to her old self?"

Angela snarled, her eyes flaring red. "She's… my MOTHER!"

Brooklyn retreated back a little at the angry snarl and red glow that Angela was throwing his way. She had never looked more like her mother than she did at that moment.

"Angela... " Goliath began, but stopped at the accusing look that his daughter was throwing at him.

"Don't tell me that you want her to stay that way as well, father?"

Goliath winced. "I have been… considering it."

"Considering it?" Brooklyn shouted. "What's there to consider? Angela, I know she's your mom and everything, but let's face facts, she just too dangerous to let loose."

Goliath frowned. "Normally I would agree, however she could be more dangerous in this state than she is in her normal one."

"Huh?" Brooklyn looked at his leader as though he had grown another head.

Goliath sighed. "Demona… or better yet, Dominique had a lover who was none other than one of the Quarrymen, who was killed by Damon."

The clan all shuddered and looked on, shocked by the idea of Demona having a human mate, even if she did have amnesia.

"Needless to say, she has less love for us now than she did even when she was a Gargoyle, if that is possible. Worse, she has all the resources of Nightstone, which she is willing to share with the Quarrymen to avenge the death of her lover."

Hudson looked sad, as he knew where this was heading.

"So?" Brooklyn said, obviously not understanding. "We'll keep her here then. She won't do any damage here."

Goliath looked at him in pity. "But it's different now Brooklyn. If it were Demona then there would be little chance; however this is not Demona, but a human named Dominique. She has immersed herself totally in human culture and has made companions, people who will miss her if she disappears. They would summon the police and eventually, they might find her here and then what will that do to our reputations?" He looked helplessly at his clan. "We have already been branded as murderers in the public's eye, what will they think of us if they discover that we are kidnappers too? Do you really think they will believe us if we were to tell them that Miss Destine is not really Dominique, but a 1000 year old immortal Gargress obsessed with killing humanity?"

Brooklyn looked sullenly at the floor, knowing when his leader was right.

Goliath sighed. "Owen… Puck, how do we restore Demona and Canmore back to their true selves?"

Owen pushed his glasses up his nose. "I believe it is time for Alex to have a lesson," excuse me for one second. He took his glasses off and placed them in his pocket. A second later, Owen began to spin around faster and faster, so fast that the clan felt dizzy just by looking at him until finally Owen stopped, and Puck was reborn.

"Heeerrrreeesssss Puck!" Puck said jovially and floated up to Goliath. "So, trouble with the little woman then?"

Goliath growled annoyingly at the little trickster. "Spare us Puck; we are not in the mood for your fanatics. Just do what you can to restore Demona and Canmore back to their former selves."

"Touchy," Puck remarked. "Very well, let me just get Alex and the lot of you bring Dominique and meet us in the cell room with Damon, alias Mr Canmore." With that, he vanished.

Goliath nodded to Angela, who took the hint and went to collect her mother.

A few moments later, there was a load of screaming and shouted insults, as the door opened and Angela came out with a struggling Dominique in her arms.

"LET GO OF ME!" Dominique yelled, as she kicked and screamed at her unknown daughter to release her.

Angela looked helplessly at her mate Broadway, who gave her a sympathetic look and took hold of one of Dominique's arms and gently, but firmly led her away, following Goliath to the modernised dungeon.

0000000000

Damon sat idly on the floor of his cell, flicking his talons and picking on the stones of the floor.

A moment later, the sound of the opening doors drew his attention and he looked up to see Goliath walk in. He smirked humourlessly at him. "Come to tell me what a bad boy I've been again, Goliath?"

For some reason, Goliath did not look at him with the usual sad pity that he usually wore. Now, he looked at him with pure anger. Whatever had he done now?

The rest of the clan came into the dungeon, as they called it, and Damon saw to his surprise a human woman, fair skinned with flaming red hair, being dragged by Broadway and Angela and screaming like a Banshee.

Elisa Maza was also there and any sympathy that she had once held for him seemed to have faded completely also.

"What?" he asked, as confused as Hell. "What have I done now?"

"Nothing," Goliath growled. "We just found out some things about you that you no doubt didn't know yourself."

Damon frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Goliath snarled. "You don't remember, but we do. Does the name _Canmore_ or the title _Hunter_ mean anything to you _Damon_?"

"No, it… _doesn't_," Damon/Canmore/Castaway replied in the same sarcastic tone that Goliath was using. However, he was lying as those two specific words, Hunter and Canmore, were practically ringing bells in his head as if they were forcing him to remember something, but couldn't.

"Goliath," Elisa spoke and touched Goliath's shoulder. "It doesn't matter. He doesn't remember anything about himself, so there's no point in going on about it. Puck and Alex will see to things and then we'll decide on what to do with him."

Goliath growled again, his fists clenching tightly. It was ironic that Canmore had done more damage to their clan in the form of a Gargoyle than he had done as a human.

Damon could not honestly understand what was going on. What was he supposed to remember, and who the Hell was that red-haired woman with the loud voice?

A few moments later, there was a bright flash that briefly blinded everyone, as they shunned their eyes at the flash. When it cleared, Puck was there in their midst, floating with a giggling baby Alex on his knee.

"Hallo," he greeted cheerfully again. If it was one thing about Puck that got on their nerves the most, it was his constant cheerfulness even in their times of grief.

"Well… are we all here then?" he said casually, making everyone give him a hard glare.

"Ooookaaaaaaaay, I'll take that as a yes then," Puck looked at Damon, then to Dominique and then back to Damon again. "Care to bring the Siamese twins a little closer together, please."

Dominique continued to struggle, as Broadway and Angela tried their best to gently bring her over to the cell where they were holding the Hunter that had been turned into his prey.

Puck cocked his head thoughtfully. "Hmmm… don't want to risk doing something to you guys… at least not yet and not while your dad is close by," he chuckled.

Goliath growled.

"Geez, talk about a tough crowd," he coughed and then pointed his finger at Dominique and pulled back his thumb saying, "bang." A long tendril of yellow energy snapped out of his finger and wrapped itself around Dominique, tying her to the cell bars.

Puck laughed. "I can't wait to see Demona's expression when she wakes up and finds herself all trussed up here in the dungeon." He coughed again and then whispered to his pupil. "Okay kid, now do it like we rehearsed, alright?"

Alex nodded his little head keenly, raised his hands and began speaking in his tiny but strong voice, despite his infancy.

_"Gargoyle strength with human ignorance, let thy power fade and with it thy arrogance. Human flesh upon Gargoyle bone; let thy forms and memories revert to thine own!"_

Dominique and Damon suddenly both yelled, as their bodies began to glow an unearthly white and they felt their bodies begin to shift and crack.

"WHAT'S HAPPENING?" Damon demanded, as he felt his head getting ready to explode from all the pain inside of it. It felt as though his mind was splitting in two.

Dominique didn't answer and just screamed, not just from the pain but from the fear of what might be happening to her child. "NOOOOO!" she screamed and suddenly, it felt as though a super nova imploded within her and she felt a gush of force break out of her and made even the white-haired man and the strange child stagger back.

"What the…?" Puck exclaimed in confusion and then thinned his eyes at her. "Uh oh," he said. "Houston, we have a problem!"

"What is it?" Goliath demanded. "Why have they not changed back?"

Puck grinned a little, but blanched at Goliath's fury. Even he, a Fay, was not totally immune to injury and if looks could kill then he'd be dead and dust by now from the one Goliath was giving him.

"Simply because, I can't," Puck admitted.

"Can't?"

Puck sighed. "It would appear that Demona… Correction, Dominique, has a condition that will not allow me to complete the spell."

"Condition?" Angela said in worry. "What sort of condition?"

Puck shrugged. "Nothing that can't be cured in 9 months, assuming of course she decides to keep it."

"Keep it, 9 months… "Elisa's eyes widened in understanding. "You don't mean to say that… that she is… "

"Yup," Puck laughed and then with a snap of his fingers, a bun appeared in one of his hands and a small miniature oven in the other, "looks like old Demona's got a bun in the oven."

Half the clan looked on in shock at Puck and in amazement at Dominique.

"The… lass… is with egg?" Hudson stuttered out.

"Nope," Puck shook his head. "The… lass… is with child, as in she's having a baby, the human way!"

The whole clan swooned and held their hands up to their hands, feeling faint.

"Friggin Hell," Brooklyn muttered. "Wait a minute! If she was fully human when she… you know, got pregnant and the dad was human too then…Does that mean Demona's going to have a human baby?"

Puck shrugged. "Can't really say for sure until the baby's born, but I would imagine so."

Brooklyn blinked and then slowly began to grin. "Annnnd… you're sure you can still reverse the spell once Demona has had her baby?"

Puck nodded. "The reason why I can't now is because since the baby is most likely fully human and Gargoyles have their kids in an entirely different way, if I were to change her back then the transformation could have dire consequences on both her and the kid. For one thing, I doubt the kid will be able to survive the daily changes that Demona goes through every day, the stress would be too much."

Suddenly, Brooklyn burst out laughing. "Oh man! This is just too unfriggin believable, it's completely priceless!" he laughed hysterically, making everyone stare at him in wonder, except for Angela who just glared at him. "I can't wait to see Demona's face when she finally recovers her memory and she finds herself trapped with a human kid!"

The rest of the clan began to snigger too. They knew they shouldn't be laughing about such a thing, but it was too much and they just couldn't help themselves. Demona, stuck as a human, with a human baby on the way, it was all just so deliciously ironic.

Even Goliath, whose usually stoic face was starting to slightly crumple as a large grin appeared on it, began laughing.

However, they doubt that Demona would still want the kid when she recovered her memory, which brought up a problem, a problem, which soon had them all quietened down.

"What will she do when she does recover her memory?" Elisa asked. "If her feelings for humanity haven't changed, even after this experience, she might well… "She shivered slightly.

Angela looked horrified. "She wouldn't? Mother couldn't… not to her own child?"

Goliath looked at her in sympathy. "I don't wish to believe it either Angela," he said, "but tell me, from what you already know about your mother, do you believe that she wouldn't lower herself to kill a human child, even if it was her own?"

Angela paused. A really big part of her wanted to say 'no,' her mother would never do something like that. However, there was a small part of her also that constantly reminded her of her mother's intense hatred of the race that she and her clan had sworn to protect.

A few moments past and still, Angela was unable to come up with a good enough answer.

"So what do we do then?" Broadway asked, while comforting his mate.

"Does she even want to keep the baby?" Lexington wondered out loud.

Dominique suddenly screamed again. "YOU STAY AWAY FROM ME AND MY BABY, YOU FREAKS!"

Elisa sighed. "I think that answer alone answers your questions, Lex."

"I DEMAND TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON!" Damon shouted. "WHY HAVE YOU BROUGHT THIS WOMAN HERE? WHY HAVE… "

"Puck," Goliath hissed, to which Puck responded by twiddling his fingers and a second later, both Dominique and Damon fell fast asleep and the magical bonds on Dominique disappeared. Thankfully, Puck had also magically deactivated the electricity on the cell bars before she fell on them and slumped to the floor.

"Well, that's them out of our hair for a while," Brooklyn said and then noticed Lexington's hard stare at him. "Ummm… for those of us, who do have hair anyway."

"Fine, make a guy feel low why don't you," Lexington sneered. "But what are we going to do about them now?"

The clan probably wouldn't have allowed the idea of an abortion to occur even if they knew what it specifically was. They did not have the medical or scientific knowledge of what an abortion was, not even Lex as he had never thought of doing any research on human reproduction or the termination of foetuses. But to them, life was all precious and to deny a child the chance to live, even if wasn't fully formed yet, was nothing short of barbaric.

"Well we can't keep her here," Goliath frowned. "We've already discussed that she would be missed, which could lead to trouble from the public. If they even suspected that we had kidnapped her and were holding her here against her will then we would never know any peace."

The clan nodded in agreement.

"But what can we do lad," Hudson asked. "Puck said that he can't do a blasted thing until the wee bairn is born and that, judging by the look of her, won't be for months yet."

Goliath sighed, until Puck interrupted.

"I believe I may have a solution," he said jovially.

Goliath looked up at him. "You know of a way to ease this situation Puck?"

Puck nodded. "Yes, but… "

"But?"

Puck sighed. "But… you're going to have to trust me completely me for it to work."

Goliath felt weak suddenly. "What do you mean? What do you intend to do?"

Puck gently jostled Alex in his arms and then continued. "I could maybe accelerate the pregnancy and cause the foetus to grow rapidly so that before this night is over, it'll be ready to be born."

The clan looked at him in amazement and horror.

"You can't be serious," Brooklyn said.

"Yeah, "Broadway concurred. "What if you were to hurt the baby?"

"Tis unnatural!" Hudson growled.

Goliath and Elisa remained quiet and listen, as Puck continued to state his proposal.

"I admit that it is a little unorthodox," Puck admitted. "But there really is no danger to Demona or the baby, even if she weren't immortal. I will simply accelerate the baby's growth, making its body grow in the same circumstances as it would have done, only at a faster rate."

"I still say it is natural and too much of a danger to the wee bairn!" Hudson said adamant.

"I agree," Goliath said, but then sighed. "However, under the circumstances, we have no choice." He looked at the clan's startled looks. "We cannot possibly wait for Dominique to have her baby, especially with what's happened tonight. She would no doubt call the police and the Quarrymen and then we would be in even hotter water than we were before."

The clan shuffled their feet uneasily.

"We can't keep her here," Goliath said. "We can't let her go, so what can we do? Please, if anyone has any other suggestions then I gladly welcome them?"

But no one spoke or even moved. The truth was that they had no other options, their resources was limited and their choices few.

Goliath never felt lower in his whole life than he did at that moment. He was about to issue the order for Puck to advantage of a weak woman and force her to have her baby right now.

"Puck," he tried to sound like a leader, but ended up sounding more like a pathetic child. "Do it."

Puck swung round. "Watch closely Alex," he said to his young master. "You might need this someday. _Child of the womb, yet to be born, let your cells multiple and features form. From Foetus to babe in one minute, come now to full circle… Let there be no limit!"_

Another flash occurred from Puck and a tendril of blue light snaked out and touched Dominique. Despite her unconsciousness, she still felt some sensation in her sleep. This time however, she felt no pain, but she did feel a strange shuddering feeling in her stomach that was starting to grow with each passing moment.

The clan looked on in wonder and rapt fascination, as Dominique's stomach swelled up like a balloon. It lasted only for a few more seconds and then the light died down, leaving Dominique with a hugely swollen belly.

"And now for my favourite part," Puck said and grinned evilly. "OP-ERA-TION!" he cackled.

"HUH?" the clan chorused, but Puck didn't give them the chance to say anything else and floated over to where Dominique was sitting up against the bars of Damon's cell. He thrust out his hand and watched it as it actually disappeared into Dominique's stomach.

"Anyone wanna know what her insides looked like?" Puck called out, laughing.

"Puck!" Goliath roared in nausea.

"Okay, okay," Puck concentrated more and then slowly began to retract his hand. As he did so, Dominique's stomach began to shrink back into its normal size and… was there something in Puck's hand?

The clan watched, as Puck's hand slowly made its way out of Dominique, with something floating just above it, as it past through her skin as though it were nothing but air. The clan watched more closely and saw to their astonishment that the thing was nothing other than Dominique's child. The baby was all curled up inside the little pale blue ball of energy that was all around it, as Puck floated back over to where the clan was.

"Anyone got a blanket or something?" Puck asked urgently, to which Elisa immediately responded and took off her jacket. She handed it over to Puck, who shook his head and told her to hold it open.

Elisa did as she was told and Puck brought the baby over to where she was standing, with her jacket held open. The baby floated down into the cloth and Elisa felt the tiny weight of it, as it pressed down on her hands and watched as the blue energy ball faded, leaving the baby bare and lying in her arms.

With the energy ball gone, the baby instantly began crying and Elisa hurriedly wrapped it up in her jacket to keep it warm. The other all gathered around her to look at the new-born child, a human who wasn't a human and a Gargoyle who wasn't one either.

Angela smiled and kissed the baby. "What is it?" she whispered.

Elisa inspected the child and smiled. "It's a boy."

The clan all smiled and began holding out their hands, eager to hold the new addition to their clan. Elisa gave the baby to Angela, as she was his sister.

'A human baby born into a family of Gargoyles,' she thought amusedly. 'God, just wait till this kid starts school, those teachers are gonna get one hell of a surprise at parent's evening.'

The clan all held, stroked and tickled the little baby boy, laughing at how he wrinkled his nose and how Bronx tried to jump up to see what they were all gawking at.

"Ahem," Puck cleared his throat. "Sorry to interrupt a touching family moment, but in case you've forgotten, we still have work to do?"

Goliath collected himself and nodded. "Proceed."

Puck held Alex closer to him. "Okay Alex, take two!"

Alex's eyes began to glow green and his voice came out, as strong as ever. "_Gargoyle strength with human ignorance, let thy power fade and with it thy arrogance. Human flesh upon Gargoyle bone; let thy forms and memories revert to thine own!"_

As before, Dominique and Damon's bodies began to glow an unearthly white. After less than a second, they began to writhe about on the floor uncomfortably, as their bodies began to shift and the disturbing sounds of crackling bones sounded out through the room and their muscles began to knit back into their true fashion.

Dominique cried out, as her fair skin changed into a deep azure blue, making her hair all the more flaming red and from her knees, elbows, shoulders and spine... Knee and elbow spikes, wings and a tail sprouted out.

While from within his cell room, Damon alias John Canmore screamed as his wings and such began to shrink and shrivel up into his body, as it faded into a more human coloured skin.

The change lasted for just under a minute and when it was over, both Dominique and Damon were no more and Canmore and Demona were reborn, as they lay exhausted on the floor.

The clan stood still for a moment, as the ordeal of not one but two of their former clan member's transformations had past. Although they had known it to be a fact, it had never fully registered to them about who Damon truly was, until they had seen it with their own eyes.

The ones who took it worse were the trio, as happy as they had been with their brotherhood they had longed to have another male gargoyle enter their group. When Damon came and they had bonded with him, they thought that they had found a true friend and new brother, only for it to come crashing down on them when they discovered whom and what he really was.

Life was really cruel sometimes.

Lexington crept over to where, only moments ago, had lay his good friend who had helped him fix and talk about machines, who had taken cooking lessons from Broadway and who spoke with Brooklyn about motorcycles. He looked sadly at him and reached his hand in and softly stroked Canmore's hair, the only thing that had remain unchanged about him in Gargoyle form and now all that was left of Damon.

Lexington tearfully crept back over to the others.

Brooklyn and Broadway weren't that much better, but they chose not to show it.

"Will Canmore remember anything about what has happened since his ordeal?" Goliath asked Puck.

Puck nodded. "I tried to block out his memories, but mixing magic's is dangerous stuff. I was taking a chance when I tried to undo Demona's spell here, but when it came to the memory blocking; I just couldn't plain well do it."

Goliath frowned. "I don't know what to do with Demona as yet, but as for Canmore, we will have to deposit him somewhere and talk to Xanatos about upgrading the security systems here in case he should ever try to attack our home during the day. Brooklyn, will you…"

"I'll take him," Lexington suddenly said, making everyone turn in surprise at him.

"I beg your pardon Lexington," Goliath said.

Lex looked up. "I said I'll take him."

Goliath shook his head. "Lexington, normally I wouldn't deprive you because of your height, but please understand that you couldn't possibly carry Canmore all the way down to the earth by yourself."

"I'll go with him," Broadway said.

Goliath looked up surprised, but finally just nodded. "Very well then, Lexington and Broadway may take Canmore back down to the ground and deposit him wherever you see fit."

Broadway nodded and went up to the cell door, unlocking it with his DNA paw-print and casting the half-naked Canmore over his shoulder. Lexington followed him out the dungeon, that sad sullen look constantly in his eyes.

Elisa looked at him sadly. "Poor Lex, he's taking the truth about Damon the hardest."

"Yes, he would," Goliath agreed.

"What do you mean?" Elisa asked, confused.

"Well, Lexington is… "Goliath stopped then, as Demona had already started to awaken. "I will tell you about it later."

Demona moaned and tried to sit up. Angela was instantly at her side, but forgot about the baby, which was still in her arms.

"Mother," she asked concerned. "Are you alright?"

Demona moaned again and sat up, here opening and shutting, as she tried to focus where she was. "Where… where am I? How did I… "Suddenly, her eyes went round, as she stared at the baby in Angela's arms and a look if realisation came into her face.

Angela at once realised her mistake. "Mother, no!"

Demona roared and attempted to take the baby out of Angela's arms. Angela swore and moved to the left, clutching the infant close to her bosom as she tried to stay clear of her mother's deadly claws.

However, it wasn't fast enough, as Demona having anticipated that move, leaned to her left and snatched the baby out of her daughter's arms and sprang up from the floor.

The clan had moved in to try and stop Demona, the moment that she had even let loose a mere growl, but were not fast enough to reach her in time.

Demona roared and held the child high above her, her eyes shining blood red, glaring dangerously at the young child.

"Demona, no!" Goliath begged her. He had lost hope long ago that Demona could change, but her sudden love for Angela at the amusement park had made her think otherwise. "He's your son!"

Demona snarled back at him. "How dare you even suggest that! This… this thing is not my son, it's not even a real child. It's neither a human, nor a Gargoyle… it's just a mistake of birth, a genetic defect, a freak of nature!"

"And your own flesh and blood, whether you want to admit it or not, mother," Angela said, as she stood up.

Demona snarled.

"Listen to me mother, maybe it's not a Gargoyle, but it was you who gave life to it. It grew inside of you; it's a part of you!"

"It's a parasite," Demona's fangs gritted together. "Nothing more!"

"Oh yes, he is something more mother," Angela looked defiantly at Demona. "He's my little brother, and your son. Nothing you can ever say or do will ever change that!"

Demona opened her mouth and looked as though she was getting ready to rip the child's throat out.

"What about the human whom you mated with Mother, the man who just moments ago, you hated me and all of our kind for accidentally killing? That's his child as well that you're planning to murder!"

"As far as I'm concerned, it was merely the spell that forced me to act as a consort to that… that human!" Demona shuddered. "I will not… "

"You loved him! Whether you want to believe it or not, you did truly love him, the first kind of true love that you have had in a long, long time. Accept it, that you did love him, it's nothing to be ashamed of!"

Demona's claws clenched around the baby that began to cry madly, seemingly ignoring her daughter.

"Look at him!" Angela screamed desperately. "Look at his eyes, mother!"

Demona stopped, confused by Angela's request, but did as she asked. "What about them?"

Angela looked pityingly at her. "They're yours, mother. Your eyes, your soul, or at least part of it!"

Demona found herself staring into the baby's eyes. For one insane moment, she thought about how he would stand out, as you never saw eyes like that on humans. They were green and shone in the dark like a cat.

Demona looked at the baby, then at her daughter, the clan who were all standing on edge waiting for any kind of move she would make or looking for any opening they could find to take the baby off her. She looked at that accursed human Elisa Maza, who stood with her pistol drawn and aiming it at her and then looked back to the baby again.

Then, she looked to her daughter and saw the dozens of tears that were falling out of her eyes, tears for this… baby. This child that was the embodiment of all that she stood for, all that she despised and yet… Yet she could not stop looking into its eyes and Angela's.

The child cried and cried, as she held it too roughly. 'Was Angela like this as an infant?' she thought.

She looked back to her daughter. "I am not this thing's mother, never assume that I am!" With that, she tossed the baby into the air and both Angela and all the clan gasped and forgot about Demona, who ran through them and out the door escaping, and hurried to catch the falling baby.

Goliath, being the tallest and the one with the biggest hands, caught the child with ease and sighed as the baby cried, but was relatively unharmed. He handed the child back to Angela, who took her little brother and rocked him gently in the crook of her arm.

"Demona's escaped!" Brooklyn shouted.

Goliath nodded at him. "Follow her to make sure that she leaves the castle, but do not engage her in battle or follow her when she leaves."

"Huh?" Brooklyn stared at him, as though he had taken all his clothes off and had started dancing.

Goliath shook his head. "We know that we cannot keep her imprisoned for long and keeping her here would only endanger the baby. Just ensure that she has left the castle and then report back to me."

Brooklyn growled a little, but nodded and went to do as he was told.

'Oh well,' Brooklyn thought, 'at least I got to scare her real good.' He chuckled deviously.

The baby gradually calmed down, yawned and fell asleep in Angela's arms. Angela sighed I relief that the child was safe, but something else warmed her heart too.

"She didn't kill him," she said to her father, smiling happily.

Goliath gave her a thin smile too. He didn't know what to say, as he thought that Demona had merely spared the child because she knew that it was the best way to escape. The again, he had never seen Demona look that way at any human before since awakening in this new world.

Angela smiled again at the baby, holding it lovingly to her chest. "He's so beautiful," she said softly.

Goliath gave her a full smile then, agreeing totally with her and stroked the child's head. "Yes, he is."

Elisa tickled under the baby's chin. "What do you think we should call him?"

Goliath frowned, as picking names was not easy for any of them since their kind had originally had no names.

"I do not know, my Elisa," he sighed defeated. "What do you think we should call him?"

Elisa cocked her head slightly, thinking. "How about… Paul?"

"Paul?" Goliath asked, "Why Paul?"

Elisa shrugged. "Why not, it's a good name? Plus, do you have any better ideas?"

"Shouldn't we have…? " Angela paused.

"Demona in on the choosing of the baby's name?" Goliath finished what his daughter had been planning to say.

"I doubt it Angela," Elisa sighed. "You heard what she said before she… left. As far as she's concerned, she's not this baby's mother and never will be. So no, I doubt very heavily that she'll want to be even considered in the baby's naming."

Angela looked dejectedly to the floor, but deep down she knew that what they spoke was correct.

A few moments later, Brooklyn came back in. "Demona's gone," he said. "I was expecting her to at least try blowing something up, but she looked like she couldn't wait to be out of here."

Goliath nodded. "I doubt she wishes to remember this night for a long time, or anything else for that matter for the past few months."

Brooklyn grinned and then walked over to where Angela was standing with the baby. "Mind if I have a hold of the little guy, Angela?" he asked politely.

Angela gently handed over her little brother to him and Brooklyn held the kid completely in the palms of his two hands.

"His name is Paul," Angela told him. "We just decided."

"Tiny little shrimp, isn't he?" Brooklyn laughed.

His laughter woke the baby, who looked around him, wondering at where he was and what all the big people around him were doing.

Brooklyn smiled warmly. "Hey kid, how's it going?"

The child of didn't course respond, but it held out its hands and tried to grasp the end of Brooklyn's beak, and when it failed, it began to pound its little fists on him.

Brooklyn grinned. "Quite the little scrapper, aren't ya?" he laughed again and tickled the baby's belly with the end of his beak, making the boy giggle.

Elisa smiled, but then looked worried. "Do you think Lexington and Broadway got Canmore away safely?"

Goliath, who had been smiling just a second ago, frowned downheartedly. "I'm sure they'll be fine. It is Lexington whom I am more worried about, as he no doubt took Damon's revelation the hardest."

"Oh, he and Damon were close then?" Elisa asked.

Goliath sighed. "Not as close as Lexington would have liked, but close enough."

"What do you mean?"

Goliath looked at her a little surprised. "I had assumed that you knew," he said. "Lexington was… "

0000000000

**A Back-Alley Downtown:**

Broadway glided down with the unconscious Hunter in his arms, with Lexington gliding slowly behind him.

They landed gracefully down on the ground, their wings clocked around them. Broadway checked to make sure that no one was nearby before he lowered the clan's most hated and presently half-naked enemy down.

Lexington just stood behind Broadway, looking blankly at the Hunter.

Broadway noticed his brother's look and sighed sadly. "Do you want a few minutes along with him?"

Lexington seemed surprised. "What do you mean?"

Broadway put his hands on his hips and looked at him in pity. "Lex, I've known you since we hatched. You think I wouldn't notice you when you got the look by now?"

Lexington blushed and wanted to yell that it wasn't true, but he had never been able to deceive either of his two closest brothers.

"Demona's wrong you know," Lexington sighed, a tear running down his cheek. "Goliath's not the sentimental fool, I am."

"Lex," Broadway said, flabbergasted, and pulled his brother into a hug. "It's alright, you did nothing wrong."

"Except give my heart to the one person who would rather see us all dead," Lex sniffled.

Broadway pulled back and looked at him sternly. "None of us had any idea who or what he really was, let alone just you. It wasn't your fault; you can't help who you fall in love with."

Lexington blubbered. "I never even got to tell him. By the Dragon, I'm glad now that I never did. I don't know how I'd live with myself if I had… "He sobbed.

Broadway patted his back and then looked back to the sleeping Quarrymen leader. "Then… maybe you should, tell him I mean?"

Lexington looked up. "What? Are you nuts?"

Broadway pointed at John Canmore. "Look at him, he's sleeping like a baby now and he didn't even stir during the whole time while we were up in the air or dragging his ass all over the castle or down here. I think it's safe to say he won't be waking up for a while. So why don't I leave you alone for a while, let you tell him in his semiconscious state, all that you wanted to tell Damon?"

Lexington looked confused. "But… what's the point? It's not like he's going to remember any of it or leap into my arms or anything."

Broadway shrugged. "Maybe not, but at least you'll get it off your chest. It'll be the best and only way to tell him now and you won't have to carry it around with you, bottled up inside anymore."

Lexington looked thoughtful, as he considered Broadway's words before finally, he sighed and nodded. "You're right, I do need to say some things and since I can't tell them to the person who I… who doesn't even exist. Then I guess I'll have to settle for the next best thing."

Broadway nodded and turned to walk to the nearest wall. "I'll be on the rooftop if you need me," he called back, to which Lex nodded and waved.

After Broadway scaled up the wall, Lexington sighed and knelt down by the man who hours ago had been the dearest friend and now one of the clan's worst enemies.

Lexington felt a rush of fresh tears springing from his eyes, but he angrily brushed them away. "Damn you Canmore," he cursed under his breath, wanting very much to rip his claws into the Hunter right now and leave nothing for the police to identify.

It had happened again, first the Pack and now Damon alias John Canmore the Hunter alias John Castaway the founder of the Quarrymen. He had been used again, only this time was worse than the first, as this time his heart had been the one used.

He had fallen in love with Damon almost immediately after he first set eyes on him. He had been a handsome Gargoyle with a magnificent figure, plenty of muscles and a beautiful smile that lit up his whole face.

His eyes had been a little disturbing. Lex had often wondered why, but now he knew, as they had been the eyes of the Hunter.

At first, it had just been a simple crush like one of the many ones that he had had on their other rookery brothers and sisters back home. Over time though, it had developed into something more, something warm and deep. He had never felt such a desire to be so close to someone before, to feel their strong arms around him, his lips upon theirs.

Lexington grimaced a bit, as he thought of spending a night of passion with Damon, only to wake up the following night with Canmore grinning at him.

John Canmore groaned and Lexington froze, getting ready to leap out of there in case he awoke, but he simply rolled his head and fell back asleep again. Lexington sighed in relief and crawled a little closer to him.

His face hadn't changed all that much from when he was a Gargoyle. His face was now that common pinkish human hue and he had no horns, but it was more or less the same. He was amazed they hadn't made the connection sooner, but Lex guessed that the idea of Castaway becoming a Gargoyle was so ridiculous to them that they never even thought of it.

He crouched in front of him, staring down at the still handsome face. He didn't feel anything at that moment, not rage, hatred or a need for revenge like he had done with the Pack, but just an overwhelming sadness and loss.

He reached out his green skinned hand and stroked Canmore's soft blonde hair.

It was funny in a way because Canmore hadn't even planned this. He had just been trying to attack Demona and ended up spending a couple of months with him and his clan.

"Before I met you," Lex began, "I was content and happy with my rookery brothers. Neither Brooklyn nor I had mates and we weren't attracted to one another, but we still had each other's friendship, even Broadway despite he spent most of his time with Angela. Angela is as good a sister as any, she's loyal, loving and true, the best anyone could hope for. Hudson and Goliath are my mentors, Bronx is our loyal and faithful hound, who is constantly there for us and gives us comfort whenever we need it. I was happy!"

Lex breathed for a few moments. "But as happy as I was, I knew there was something missing and when you came I realised what it was, true love. I only knew you for a short time, but in that time I felt such warm passion and unconditional love, the kind I had never felt before. You talked, joked and worked on gadgets with me. You started out as a brother, but over time you became something so much more. I tried so hard to tell you how I felt, but every time the words came out… "

Lex trailed off, gazing down on the peaceful slumbering man. "I suppose I should be glad now that I never got to tell you, after all, what are the chances that even if you had felt anything for me, you wouldn't still want to shatter me in my sleep now?"

But try as he might, Lex couldn't bring himself to believe that. "Scratch that. Even if it did turn out like I just said, I still wanted to tell you. I regret I didn't tell you sooner, at least then I wouldn't be feeling so bad."

A tear rolled down his cheek and landed on Canmore's own. Lex reached down and gently stroked fit off.

"I don't know whether I want to hate you or still love you," he admitted. "It would be so much easier to hate you, as we'll no doubt be fighting each other again soon."

He stared at his face.

"If only you hadn't made me love you so damn much before all this crazy stuff happened," he sobbed a little and then leaned over. "No matter what happens, no matter how much you'll hate me and my kind, know this… There is one Gargoyle who will always love you."

With that, he kissed Canmore gently on the lips, softly so that he wouldn't awaken. However, no sooner had he kissed him, Canmore started to respond.

Lexington yelped and expected Canmore to start shouting and looking for his Quarry-hammer, but instead… he was kissing him back?

Lexington was confused, but in the rush he started to respond back and kissed him fully. He moaned a little as he stroked Canmore's hair and felt his smooth skin beneath his own hind.

Then, as quickly as it began, Lexington gently lifted Canmore's hands off him and pushed him back. It was then when he noticed that Canmore's eyes were still closed and he realised that Canmore was still asleep, or at least half-asleep. He must have been half-conscious and responded to his touch in his sleep.

Lexington didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed, or both. But if Canmore was only half asleep now that that meant the spell was wearing off and he had to get going.

Lexington raced to the wall and as he dug his claws into it, he took one last look at Canmore and whispered tearfully, "Goodbye Damon." And pulled himself up to the top of the building where Broadway was waiting for him with a sympathetic look on his face.

0000000000

"Lex is gay?" Elisa said in surprise, as Angela walked out the room with her new baby brother in her arms.

Goliath looked at her, curiously. "Gay?"

"Yeah, you know, as in he fancies other guys."

Goliath cocked his head. "I was unaware you humans had names for falling in love. I assume it was just called love."

Elisa looked a little blankly at him. "Goliath, not that I'm a bigot or anything, as I even have a few friends who are gay, but… Well, you're from the medieval times and back then, I would have thought that… You know, you'd be against this sort of thing."

"Against what?" Goliath asked, honestly confused and then his face lit up with realisation. "Oh, you mean the case of two people of the same gender falling in love with one another?"

"Yup, don't you find it a little… odd? Personally, I'm confused about Lex, as like Brooklyn and Broadway, he was all over Angela when she first arrived."

Goliath shrugged. "Gargoyles have never had a problem with two people falling in love, whether they are of the same gender or not. We were always taught that if those two loved one another truly, then their differences meant nothing, just as our differences mean nothing to you and me, my Elisa."

Elisa smiled. "Why didn't you ever try to court with me sooner then?"

Goliath looked a little ashamed. "I thought that you would be happier with a mate of the same race as you, as I cannot bear you any children. I didn't feel right asking you such a thing when it would mean such a great sacrifice."

Elisa laughed a little. "Funny, I thought the exact same thing. I thought that since I couldn't bear you any then I had no right asking you to when your race was, what we thought, near extinction. But know this, Goliath! You mean more to me than any child ever could. I mean yeah, I would have liked to have a child some day, but it's not necessary. I would rather go the rest of my life never knowing motherhood than spending a single night without you."

Goliath smiled and wrapped her in his arms, kissing her passionately.

"You and I are one, truly one! Now and forever, for all eternity." He whispered into her dark mane of hair.

"Forever and ever," Elisa whispered back and kissed him.

0000000000

**Destine Manor:**

Demona soared through the skies and landed roughly on the balcony of her mansion. She smashed the doors open and stormed right in. What she saw inside her home, made her pause and snarl incredulously.

She remembered nearly everything that had happened since that disastrous night with the spell that had turned her into no more than a weakling human. She remembered the miserable human Edward Kilby… Ed.

Demona paused slightly at the mere thought of her human… acquaintance, and immediately started back up again and raced through the rooms, gathering every photo and item that even reminded her of him and tossing them on the fire, burning them into ashes.

"BLAST that Hunter!" she cursed loudly, as it had been all his fault when he had barged right in here and disrupted her spell.

She continued rummaging through the house, shattering any little piece of ornament that she had bought when she had obviously been under the influence of the spell and the corruptive nature of the humans, who told her to buy them.

The worst part was that she had willingly supplied weapons to the Quarrymen to help hunt and kill her own kind. She had never felt so sick and disgusted in all her life. She had to have been under the influence of the humans. She just had to have been.

Well, she would get the last laugh. She'd go straight to the office tomorrow and pull out any and all of the weapons that she 'mistakenly' gave them and severe any link she had with the gargoyle slayers.

Finally, after a whole hour of storming through the corridors and hallways of her huge house, she came to the last room and marched right in, halting almost immediately at once.

She dropped the few pieces of an ornament that she had last destroyed and stared into the room. She had completely forgotten about this room, as her mind was still trying to sort out the new and old memories.

It was a nursery, a baby's room that she… or rather _Dominique_ had decorated shortly after she had first found out she was pregnant.

She slowly walked in, turning the light on and gazing around at the stuffed toys, white painted cradle and rocking chair and the frilly curtains that she had installed.

Her mind suddenly wandered back to the baby that was now at the Eyrie Building with Goliath and his clan, her… NO! It was not her son, but another filthy human that had been brought into this world by a twist of fate that had corrupted her beliefs and violated her mind and body.

Still, she could not help but remember the way the baby had looked at her with her eyes and the sound of its cry.

She angrily shook her head and began tearing the place apart. She shredded the stuffed toys, spreading white cotton everywhere. She grabbed the cradle and the rocking chair, tearing them apart and throwing them out the window, from which she pulled the curtains down and tore them up as well.

By the time she was finished with the room, there was little or nothing left but a bare room with nothing, but bits and tatters inside it.

Demona had by then long since slid down to the floor, her chest heaving as the red flare in her eyes slowly died down. On her face was still the mask of horror and rage that she had worn for so many centuries.

She looked around again, making sure that she had left nothing out and that all had been destroyed or thrown away. She wanted nothing more to do with that baby or the memories that came with it.

Suddenly, something squeaked beneath her hand when she moved it and looked down to one stuffed toy still in tact. She angrily swiped it up and prepared to shred it just as she had done to the others, but… something made her stop.

She looked down at the toy's plastic button eyes. They were of the colour of green, like hers, just like her… like that baby's had been. The toy was soft and warm like he had been.

Demona stared at the toy for a moment longer, before she slowly got up and walked out the room, down the hallway and into the living room where the fire that she had started was still going.

She stood still for about a minute and then tossed the toy into the flames and watched it burn for over half an hour, the flames reflecting in her eyes.

She stayed standing where she was, as the toy turned to ash and the flames died out. No tears came from her eyes, as she had long since burned herself out of tears long ago when the Vikings destroyed her clan.

As the final flames burned out, she turned and walked out the room to her own to sleep.

**The End!**


End file.
